Rewritten: Series 2
by LizzeXX
Summary: AU10/OC -Time Lady- The Doctor has regenerated into an entirely NEW 10th self, not that his Bonded, the Professor, minds for their Bond grows even stronger as time goes on. With Rose Tyler's taking her second chance to travel with the Doctor, what will change? What will become of the Time Lords when certain companions decide to leave the TARDIS? Second in the AU Academic Series.
1. The Girl in the Fireplace

A/N: Hello all! :) This is a continuation of my AU retelling of my Academic Series, featuring my OC the Professor, Bonded of the Doctor. Originally I was only planning to do an AU of that series up to where the actual main series began, but quite a few people have requested the AU to continue and so I'm going to try my hand at it :)

The Rewritten stories will feature into separate stories per series. For instance, I've renamed my original Rewritten as 'Rewritten: Series 1' and so this is Rewritten: Series 2. I do not, however, have the first few episodes of Series 2 here as they were at the end of my prior story and, due to the reviews on them and being in that story, it didn't make sense to move them here and delete them from the other. So this story will begin on The Girl in the Fireplace and just might take the Doctor down a darker path ;)

Some quick things to keep in mind:

1\. This story will _only_ be updated on Saturdays.  
2\. This is an AU of not just my OC but the Doctor as well, the new 10th Doctor, in this series, looks something like Dominic Cooper.  
3\. I would recommend reading Rewritten first to understand the changes in the story and the Doctor's relationship with Rose.  
4\. I would also recommend having read the original Academic Series, though as it's an AU, it isn't needed to really follow what's happening as it's a new version of the story :)  
5\. Quick physical description of the Professor: She's tall with straight blonde hair she tends to wear hanging over one shoulder. She has brown eyes and tends to favor wearing short sleeved dresses that go to her mid thighs, with a colored vest over it, and long boots that go to just below her knees :) For a reference, an actress I picture as being similar to her is Sarah Carter :)

Some notes:

~8~ is a scene break

~/~\~ is a flashback (three per story)

'_italics_' is the Doctor/Professor speaking telepathically.  
"_italics_" is Gallifreyan.

This story will be based around the Doctor and Professor's POV, so some scenes might be missing, and since we're all fans of DW I'm hoping we've all seen the episodes and know what's going on in those scenes :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who...or the Master (or even the Rani) would have been around much more...

~8~

The Girl in the Fireplace

The Professor hesitantly stepped out of the TARDIS, looking around warily at the spaceship it appeared the Doctor had landed them in during this mystery tour. It was dark, looking rather disused and dusty, almost abandoned if she had to guess. She looked over when she felt the Doctor take her hand and offer it a reassuring squeeze and tried to give him a smile. She…wasn't doing well, she could tell this wasn't going to be an easy trip.

Coming face to face with the Krillitanes only a short while ago had shaken her more than she wanted to admit. She hated the aliens for what they'd done to her, for using her, for stealing her Cerebral Fluid and torturing her the way they had. She had expressed to the Doctor just after he'd rescued her that she wasn't comfortable around other aliens now, and he'd tried to get her on safer trips by keeping them centered around the Earth. It hadn't quite worked because the very last aliens they'd encountered during that endeavor ended up being Daleks…and he'd died as a result of that encounter, changed into the man he was now, his 10th self, with his dark hair and dark eyes and hint of stubble.

She had to smile at that at least, he was quite dashing and rather handsome, but it still bothered her that he'd died due to that trip. She'd wanted to try a new start with him, let him know that she might be able to handle the aliens, that she wanted to try, to start heading a little more away from Earth.

And then the Krillitanes happened and she just…she didn't want to be there. She wanted to go somewhere lighter and brighter and not a spaceship. But she knew she had to try, she had to push past this. If she didn't, then the Krillitanes won and she was not going to let that happen.

The Doctor seemed to sense her thoughts as he lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a gentle kiss to it.

"It's a spaceship!" Mickey cheered as he and Rose stepped out of the TARDIS behind the Time Lords, "Brilliant, I got a spaceship on my first go!"

"It looks kind of abandoned," Rose murmured, glancing over at the two for confirmation, "Anyone onboard?"

"I was just about to check," the Doctor nodded, moving over to a computer in a nearby control panel. If it was just a spaceship then it might be better for all of them, for the Professor especially, to be able to wander without fear of more aliens popping out at them. It would be a good start to helping her get over her shock at seeing the Krillitanes again, they had certainly set her back in her progress.

"When are we?" Rose looked at the Professor, "Do you know how far into the future or um…past, we've gone?"

The Professor took a deep breath, letting herself sense their location and time, "3,000 years into the future exactly," she nodded, gesturing to the side, to a small porthole in the wall, "You see those star clusters? That's the Diagmar Cluster. Which is about two and a half galaxies away from Earth."

Mickey's mouth dropped open at that as he slowly made his way over to the window and looked out at the stars drifting past, Rose moving to his side and taking his arm, the two of them just smiling in awe at the sight.

"It's so realistic!" Mickey breathed.

"Well, as it is real space," the Doctor called dryly, "I would assume it would be realistic as well."

The Professor shook her head and moved to join him at the control panel, "Is it very damaged?" she inquired as he threw a piece of tech over his shoulder, frowning at the wires before him.

"Whoever's ship this was they did not take good care of it," the Doctor agreed.

"Much like you and the TARDIS," she teased.

"I take very good care of her actually."

"Boys and your toys," she rolled her eyes playfully.

The Doctor just reached out and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her to sit on his lap, "Boys and their girls really," he looked at her, "I take care of the women in my life, with everything in my hearts," he placed her hand on the center of his chest.

She blushed a bit at that, "And I like to take things from the boys in mine," she murmured, making him frown…until she held up the sonic she'd nicked off him in her hand. He gave a soft chuckle at that, letting his hand fall down onto her knee, his hand just barely ghosting over the skin at the hem of her black dress as she turned to flick the sonic at the control panel, managing to power it on, "Warp engine…" she frowned slightly, "I don't understand. It's running at full capacity but the ship isn't moving…"

"So where is all that power going," the Doctor hummed in agreement.

"Where'd all the crew go?" Rose called, looking back at them.

The Professor gave her a smile, "Very good question Rose," Rose smiled at that, before she turned to press the screen of the computer, shaking her head a moment later, "No life readings onboard," she glanced at the Doctor, "I'm not sure if I should be pleased or concerned by that."

"Let's start with pleased," he patted her knee, "Gives us more privacy."

"We have a box with an infinite amount of rooms," she reminded him, "Doesn't get more private than that."

"And yet the humans STILL managed to find our room," he grumbled, shooting Rose and Mickey an irritated look over her shoulder.

"I told you," Rose sighed, "The Halls shifted us right to your door. The TARDIS did it."

"The TARDIS helped kick you out last time," the Doctor threw back, "I doubt she'd want to help you."

"She'd want to help Mickey though," the Professor pointed out, knowing that the Doctor was still rather…displeased with Rose travelling with them after the events of when she'd tried to save her father.

"Oi, you lot," Mickey called, "Do you smell that?" he inhaled deeply, "Someone's cooking Sunday roast," he laughed, "Can't be all that abandoned."

"Hmm…" the Doctor reached out to flick a switch on the control panel that was blinking, only for a door to open behind them.

The Time Lords exchanged a cautious glance before standing and walking through the doors, into another room. It was fairly basic, as high of tech as the other room…save for the 18th century fireplace of French make that was sticking out of the wall looking very out of place.

The Professor reached out to touch it briefly, feeling it solid beneath her fingers, not a hologram then, "French," she nodded, "18th century. Wood. In a metal spaceship?" she looked at the Doctor, that didn't make sense.

The Doctor stepped closer and moved to examine it with his sonic, "And not a reproduction," he added, "Authentic. Double-sided…look," he held out a hand to the Professor to join him crouched before it, "There's another room through there."

"But that can't be," the Professor hummed, "There's only space through there. I saw it through the porthole," she gestured at the wall where one of the windows was.

"Hello?" a voice called, making them look back at the fireplace where a young blonde girl was peering through at them, moving to sit before the fireplace as though she'd heard them speaking and come to look.

"Well hello," the Professor smiled, "I'm the Professor," she gestured at herself, "What's your name?"

"Reinette."

The Professor nodded at that, "French," she murmured to the Doctor quietly, assessing the girl's speech and accent and outfit, "Paris, at a guess, 1727."

"Are you psychic, mademoiselle?" Reinette asked, staring at her with wide eyes.

"No," the Professor smiled, "Just very observant."

"She uses her eyes," the Doctor added, smiling warmly at the Professor, "Her gorgeous, lovely eyes, notices everything they do. Notices every little detail."

Reinette nodded at that, not quite sure what to make of it, but shrugged, "May I ask, what are you doing in my fireplace?"

"Oh, polite," the Doctor looked at her, "A polite human. That's a first."

"Oi!" Rose called behind him.

"Well, it was nice to meet you, Reinette," the Doctor gave her a small bow of his head, "Sleep well," before he moved to stand, helping the Professor up as Reinette called a goodnight to them as well.

"You said this was the 3,000 years in the future," Mickey frowned.

"I did," the Professor nodded.

"But it was 1727."

"Well, it appears we've found where the power's gone then," the Doctor shrugged, moving his hands behind his back and inhaling deeply, "It must be being sued to generate a spatio-temporal hyperlink."

"What's that then?"

"Time Lord for 'magic door,'" the Professor giggled, making the Doctor roll his eyes at her.

Rose had to smile, "And on the other side of the er, _'_magic door' is France in 1727?"

"She was speaking French," the Professor began to list the reasons why it was likely exactly that, "Proper accent, right period for the time, and based on her clothes, they're authentic for the year as well."

"No," Mickey shook his head, "She was speaking English, I heard her!"

"That's the TARDIS translation matrix," the Doctor waved him off, turning on his heel to observe the fireplace more closely, "Gets into your head and makes everything look and sound English."

"Even French?!"

The Doctor paused and looked back at him, then to the Professor, "I did say 'everything' didn't I?"

"Well, it doesn't actually translate everything," she reminded him, "Not our TARDIS at least, not the museum pieces. There's the Judoon, that doesn't translate…"

"That is true," the Doctor nodded, turning to look at the fireplace again, reaching out to run his hand along the mantel as the Professor moved to his side.

He glanced at her a moment before a sly smirk spread across his face and he reached out to brush his fingers along the side of her ribs, making her squeal and jerk away from him, her knee coming up to knock the side of the fireplace, making the section of the wall spin around with the both of them on it as Rose and Mickey called out to them. They managed to grip the mantel tightly enough to not fall off, the Doctor's arm wrapping around her waist to keep her steady till the spinning stopped and they were deposited in Reinette's bedroom, the girl asleep on the bed in the middle of the room.

The Professor frowned, before moving over to the nearest window and looking out, getting a sense of the time, it was winter judging by the snow falling. She turned, about to tell the Doctor her thoughts when something over his shoulder caught her gaze and she slowly approached him, reaching out to touch a broken clock on the mantel, the front shattered, the hands not moving at all…

Yet there was a rather loud ticking in the room.

'_Far too loud to be from this little clock,_' the Professor warned the Doctor in his mind as he nodded.

They spun around when a gasp sounded to see that Reinette had woken up from the noise outside her window and was clutching her blanket towards her at the sight of two shadowy figures standing by her fireplace.

"It's alright," the Doctor told the girl calmly, holding up his hands, "It's us," he moved over to a candle by the girl's bed, using the sonic to light it.

"Hello Reinette," the Professor greeted, "I'm the Professor, do you remember? You saw us," she gestured at the Doctor, "Through your fireplace a few moments ago?"

"That was weeks ago!" Reinette told them, "That was _months_!"

"Was it?" the Professor blinked, "Well, how about that…"

"Who _are_ you? And what are you doing here?"

"Reinette," the Doctor began cautiously, "A question for a question, yes?" he inquired and the girl nodded, "This clock on your mantel…how long has it been broken for?"

Reinette shrugged, "It was working before I went to bed…"

"You see that it's broken now though," the Professor gestured to it, Reinette nodding again, "Then how is it ticking?"

Reinette tensed at that, as though sensing something else was going on.

"It's still ticking because that is not a clock's tick," the Doctor answered, starting to move more into the room as the Professor remained by the broken clock, "You were right," he pointed at the Professor, "You can tell by the resonance that its' too big."

"Then what is it?" Reinette frowned.

The Doctor glanced back at the Professor and held out a hand to her which she took with a deep breath and stepped beside him.

"First rule of camouflage," the Professor murmured, "Ensure that what could give you away doesn't. Break the clock, so that no one notices two tickings. Second, hide where you won't be noticed," she tugged the Doctor back as he began to head for the curtains by the windows, shaking her head at him, "Where you wouldn't notice a ticking noise because you're used to hearing it," she looked over at the bed and held out her other hand to the Doctor who silently handed her the sonic, "Hide there because Reinette would hear it, but think she was just hearing the clock ticking in her head," she stepped closer and flicked the sonic on, a high pitched noise making Reinette put her hands over her ears, but there was a thump on the ground from under the bed.

Reinette half jumped off it, scrambling towards the Time Lords that pushed her behind them, watching as a figure in period clothing crawled stiffly out from under the bed and stood, wearing a white clown-like mask over its face.

"You stay exactly where you are," the Doctor threatened, taking the sonic back from the Professor and holding it up threateningly, taking a step before the woman as well, feeling her tense beside him at the arrival of what was likely an alien. He glanced at the sonic a moment though when it beeped, taking in the reading before glancing at Reinette and back, "You've been scanning her?" he shook his head, "What for? What could possibly exist in a child's mind that you would need to build a ship like that," he jerked his head towards the fireplace, "Just to look?"

"I don't understand," Reinette whispered from behind the Professor, "It wants me?!" she peered out a bit more, looking at the figure, "You want me?"

"Not yet," a very mechanical voice replied, "You are incomplete."

"Incomplete?" the Professor repeated, her voice shaking at that, her mind racing back to the War, to the training program she'd been forced through, they hadn't let the Academics stop because their training was incomplete, "What do you mean by that?"

"If you're willing to answer the girl, you can answer my Bonded when she asks you a question," the Doctor told the figure threateningly.

Instead of answering, the figure just took a jerky step towards the Doctor, waving its arm out as a blade extended from it to swipe at the Doctor's sonic.

"Monsieur, be careful!" Reinette gasped at the same time as the Professor cried out, "Doctor!"

"Reinette go to the window," the Doctor ordered, the girl scampering off across the room, hiding behind the curtain to watch on as the Doctor used the Sonic to block another blow and held a hand out to the Professor, "Care to dance, my love?"

The Professor just blinked at him, but he took her hand and used it as a spin to her, pulling her into his arms as they pseudo-waltzed before the figure that kept striking at them, the moves of the dance just missing the swings.

"This is just a nightmare," the Doctor spoke, more to the Professor than Reinette, though his words could apply to her as well, "Just look at me," he encouraged the Professor to keep her eyes on him as they lured the figure towards the fireplace, "This is just a nightmare. Everyone has them, even our greatest monsters," he smiled, "And you know what the monsters have nightmares of," he turned, dipping the Professor to the side just as the figure struck out once more, the move avoiding the blade swinging down, allowing it to get lodged in the mantel of the fireplace, "Us," he un-dipped her, allowing her to move to the same place she'd nudged before and sending the three of them back to the spaceship.

"Doc…what is that?!" Rose gasped the moment they were back in the hall.

The Doctor just jumped past her, grabbing a gun-like device off the wall behind her, firing an icy spray at the figure as it tried to jerk its arm free, making it twitch and convulse for a moment before it finally grew still.

"Excellent, ice gun!" Mickey beamed at it.

"Fire extinguisher, actually," the Professor swallowed.

The Doctor immediately handed the extinguisher over to Mickey before moving over to the Professor, taking her hand and kissing the back of it.

"Where did that thing come from?" Rose eyed the figure.

"I think it's a droid from the ship," the Professor took a breath, it had been moving far too stiffly for it to be anything other than a robot…which was a bit more relieving to her, to know that it wasn't actual aliens there but just droids, she could deal with that…she could, she was sure she could. Maybe.

"So why is it dressed like that?" Mickey eyed it's rather impeccable outfit.

"Camouflage," the Professor shrugged, "When in Rome and so on."

The Doctor eyed the Professor a moment, "Do you want me to…" he gestured at the droid and she nodded, stepping to the side to allow him to examine it more. He reached out and pulled the mask and wig it was wearing off, his eyes widening slightly at the intricate clockwork mechanism that made up the inside of its head, a head that appeared to be a clear egg of sorts, "Now that is something," he hummed, glancing at the Professor, "What do you think?"

"It's…impressive," she shrugged, "But it's basic as well. Only way to tell what it's doing is to get a look at its programming. We need to crack it open."

Just as she said that though, the ice seemed to melt enough for the droid to jerk its arms together, pressing something on its wrist and teleporting away.

"And that?"

"It would have to be short range as far as teleports go," the Professor nodded, "It's likely still onboard."

"Join me?" he held out a hand to her to take, nodding towards the fireplace.

The Professor looked at him and then over at Rose and Mickey before shaking her head, "I think I should stay with them," the Doctor tilted his head at that, a small frown coming to his face, "If the Droids are still on the ship, I don't feel comfortable leaving them alone."

"But they're humans," he shook his head, a concerned look in his eyes.

She smiled seeing it, knowing that it was his way of saying he'd rather her be with him where he could protect her. She stepped closer to him and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips, "And they need more looking after than you do," she murmured against him, "Go," she gave him a small nudge towards the fireplace, "We will try to get a lay of the ship, you go make sure Reinette is safe. Neither of us want the children in danger," her playful, if slightly tense, smile was what had him nodding, giving her one more kiss before he moved to the fireplace and nudged it to spin around.

"Hold on," Rose blinked, getting the Professor's implication a moment late, "Children?"

The Professor shrugged and turned, picking up a second extinguisher from the wall and holding it up to Rose with a small smile.

Rose rolled her eyes but took the extinguisher, the three of them slowly making their way out of the room.

~8~

The Doctor placed his hands behind his back as the fireplace stopped its turn, taking a step off of it to look around the room. It was a testament to how ruptured the ship had made the holes in time that it was now daylight just outside. He was silent as he observed the room, not calling out. No one was there yet and he wasn't about to draw attention to himself, a strange man in a little girl's bedroom, for no reason. His attention, however, was pulled to the doors across the room when he heard a gasp.

A young blonde woman in a period gown, her hips artificially wide, started to a stop, her eyes wide, her hand on her chest as she caught sight of him standing there.

"My apologies," he bowed his head to her, "I was looking for Reinette, do you happen to know where she may be?"

The woman was silent though, slowly entering the room more, observing him with a curious expression. She opened her mouth to answer him when another woman called from outside the room, "Reinette! We're ready to go!"

The woman gave him a small, humorous smile before shouting, "Go to the carriage, mother, I will join you there," she nearly laughed at the slight widening of the Doctor's eyes at the revelation that she was Reinette just…grown up some, "It is customary, I think, to have an imaginary friend only during one's childhood. You are to be congratulated on your persistence."

The Doctor didn't seem put off his stride though, merely gave her a bow of the head, "How do you do, Reinette."

"Incredible," Reinette murmured as she drew nearer to him, "You do not appear to have aged a single day. That is tremendously impolite of you."

"Well," the Doctor cleared his throat, "I merely came to ensure that you were safe. You should be along, best not be seen alone with a strange man."

Reinette laughed at that, "Strange? How could you be a stranger to me? I have known you since I was seven years old."

"I suppose you have," he agreed, but stepped back when the woman tried to touch his face, his hand coming up of its own accord to lightly grab her wrist to stop her, "It's rude to poke," he chastised lightly, despite the fact that he himself would be likely to poke at anything interesting that moved.

Reinette cleared her throat as he released her hand, a faint blush on her cheeks, "You seem to be flesh and blood, at any rate, but this is absurd. Reason tells me you cannot be real."

"Reason can be skewed at times," he countered lightly.

"Mademoiselle!" a man called for Reinette from the halls, "Your mother grows impatient."

"A moment!" Reinette huffed over her shoulder, before turning to face the Doctor once more, her eyes narrowed in question, "So many questions. So little time."

"Perhaps another time then," the Doctor suggested, stepping back from her at the same time she tried to take a step towards him, not feeling comfortable with how her gaze had flickered to his lips just before.

"Perhaps," Reinette nodded, but took no further step towards him, seeming to realize why he'd stepped back.

"Mademoiselle Poisson!" the man yelled once more.

Reinette let out a heavy breath before she turned, plucking a small pouch off her vanity, before running out of the room.

The Doctor shook his head at her before he turned to examine the fireplace again, feeling a sudden desire to find the Professor and steal a kiss from her. He was just about to nudge the control to get him back to the ship when he realized something, "Poisson?" he murmured to himself, his eyes widening slightly, "Oh, Madame de Pompadour," he nodded, "Now it makes sense."

Just as a servant reached the room, about to shout for Reinette once more, the Doctor nudged the fireplace and spun around, back to the ship, pausing a moment as he stepped off it, '_Kata?_' he called out, hoping to hear a response from her.

'_Theta,_' she responded.

He let out a breath at that, that she had responded, but frowned a moment later, hearing a tense quality in her voice, '_What is it? What's wrong?_' he started to head down the hallway even as she explained all that she and Mickey and Rose had discovered.

Though he came to a rather abrupt stop when, upon rounding a corner, he found himself face to face with a white horse.

~8~

The Professor cautiously walked behind Rose and Mickey as they headed down the halls of the ship. She was…starting to regret not waiting for the Doctor and exploring the ship with him. She wanted to help keep the humans out of trouble, but at the same time…they were inept, when it came to defense, against aliens, and robots, and she doubted they'd be able to make her feel safe with the droids running around. True, they had the extinguishers, she could grab one and use it, buy time, but she really wanted the Doctor beside her, she felt safe with him.

Mickey seemed to sense her unease though, he was trying to lighten the mood, making jokes and do some tricks and stunts to make her smile. Currently he was rolling around the ground, doing a tumble with his extinguisher, before moving onto his feet. She couldn't help but think his form could use some improvement, if he tucked in more, used his shoulder to help, he'd be up faster, but as it wasn't meant to be a serious roll with a gun she said nothing.

"Are you looking at me?" Mickey called to one of the cameras in the corner of the hall, spotting it, the Professor was sure he was trying to quote something but didn't know what. Mickey, for his part, jerked back with a small squeak when the camera came out of the wall and moved closer to him, making her and Rose hurry over to him…and stare in shock at the eyeball that was in place of the lens of the camera, "That's an eye in there," Mickey swallowed, "That's a real eye."

They watched as the eye slowly retreated back towards the wall, stationing itself in the corner once more.

"Shh…" the Professor frowned, "Can you hear that?" she turned, moving along the hall, a small thumping noise getting louder to the humans as they went. She moved to crouch before a circular cover in the wall, reaching out to quickly pull the vent open, ignoring the slight twinge of heat on her finger tips. She leaned in, grimacing when she saw a heart, a human heart, inside the vent, attached to wires and tubes, beating away.

"It's like it's wired in," Mickey breathed from behind her, he and Rose crouching over her shoulders to see.

"That's a heart," Rose scrunched her face in disgust, "That's a human heart."

"Come on," the Professor shook her head, standing, hearing the Doctor starting to speak in her mind, "We should get back to the Doctor."

"Maybe it wasn't a real heart?" Mickey looked at the Professor, hopeful, as they headed down the hall the Professor slightly taking the lead.

"Course it was a real heart," Rose muttered back to him.

"Is this like normal for you? Is this an average day?"

"Life as a time traveler," Rose shrugged, "No more average days."

"This isn't even a normal ship," the Professor added as they slowed to a stop before what appeared to be a full-sized window in the wall, revealing a lavish room of 18th century décor.

"It's France again," Mickey leaned in, tapping the glass, "We can see France."

"I think we're looking through a mirror," Rose remarked as the doors to the room opened and a father pompous looking man entered with two servants.

"Blimey, look at this guy. Who does he think he is?"

"King of France," the Professor spoke, at the same time as the Doctor's voice drifted over to them.

They glanced back to see the Doctor walking down the hall towards them, heading right for the Professor, "Bout time you showed up," she smiled at him.

He gave her a grin in return, leaning in to kiss her quickly as he moved his arm around her waist, glancing past her at the king who was now looking through the mirror at them, though they knew he was seeing just his reflection, "Care to give the history lesson, Professor?" he tugged her closer, her back to his front, moving his other arm around her as well, letting her lean back against him, practically feeling her unease with the situation.

"Care to explain the horse?" she countered, nodding to the side even as he swayed her slightly, making the humans look over at the white horse that had followed the Doctor.

"What's a horse doing on a spaceship?" Mickey blinked at it.

"What's pre-Revolutionary France doing on a spaceship?" the Doctor countered, "These windows," he gestured to the one before them, "I've seen them all over the ship on my way here. All of them focusing on her," he nodded at the window, at a blonde woman that had just stepped into the room with the king, "Why?"

"Who is she?" Rose squinted at the woman, as though she wanted to hear what was being said between the king and woman but they were too far away from the window.

"Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson," the Doctor stated.

"Madame de Pompadour," the Professor added for explanation.

"So has she got plans of being the Queen, then?" Rose guessed.

"France already has an established Queen," the Professor shook her head, "She's to be his mistress."

"This appears to be the night they met," the Doctor remarked as the king left, Reinette remaining alone in the room, "The night of the Yew Tree ball."

"Queen must have loved her," Rose frowned, just the thought of a mistress, of doing that to your wife, even if it was royalty where, in that time period, they likely married just for politics.

"They were actually quite good friends," the Professor hummed, making the Doctor smile as he saw her almost drifting off in his arms, her eyes closed, leaning on him more, just relaxed.

He loved that he could make her feel so safe that, even in the middle of an alien ship, with droids running around and body parts appearing everywhere, she felt secure enough to even relax as she was.

"The King's wife and the King's girlfriend?" Mickey gave the Doctor a look for that, seeing the Professor wasn't likely to catch it.

"It's France," the Doctor shrugged, "And they're royalty. Not much for marriages of love at this point in time."

The Professor's face scrunched, "I can hear ticking…" her eyes opened and they looked through the window, the ticking noise getting louder as they spotted what looked like the figure that had teleported out before standing in the shadows in the back of the room.

Reinette, how had moved to check her appearance in the mirror, seemed to realize what was happening the same moment they did for she spun around with a gasp, seeing the figure standing there, "How long have you been standing there? Show yourself!"

She stumbled back to the side as the figure moved into the light, dressed just like the other figure had been save in a different color, its mask still the frightful clown one. The Doctor pressed a kiss to the Professor's temple in apology before he hurried through the mirror, pushing it aside while grabbing the extinguisher from Mickey on the way, not saying a word to Reinette as he hurried at the figure and fired the icy spray at it till it froze before he tossed the extinguisher back, leaving Mickey to catch it.

"What's it doing?" Mickey shifted with the extinguisher, getting a better grip on it.

The Professor swallowed, approaching more slowly with Rose, "It's trying to thaw the ice and switch back on."

"And then what?"

"Then it tries to kill everyone that knows it's here."

The Doctor watched, not even flinching when the figure tried to jerk its arm out to him, knowing that it would be frozen and too stiff to truly move to harm him, "Who are you?" he demanded of the figure, "Identify yourself."

The Professor frowned as it remained silent, "Reinette…try to give it a command."

"What?" Reinette turned to her, "Why should it listen to me?"

"It didn't answer us earlier, when you were a little girl, but it did when YOU asked it."

Reinette hesitated but turned to the figure, taking a breath, "Answer his question. Answer any and all questions put to you."

"I am repair droid seven," it stated, its arm jerking down.

"If you're a repair droid why have you let the ship fall into such disrepair?" the Doctor put his hands behind his back, turning one of his hands flat with its palm open for the Professor to take, knowing that she was struggling to be in the same room as the alien droid.

"Ion storm, 82 percent systems failure."

"You should have been able to repair it by now," the Professor squeezed his hand, "The ship's been immobile for a year."

"We did not have the parts."

"Always comes down to that, doesn't it?" Mickey remarked, "The parts."

"The crew should have been able to get you the parts," the Doctor shook his head, "Put out a distress call at least. Where are they?"

"We did not have the parts," the droid repeated.

"A ship that big would have well over…"

"50," the Professor offered.

"50 people working on it," the Doctor continued, "Where did they go?"

"We did not have the parts."

"50 people…" he trailed off a moment, a thought hitting him, "And 82 percent damage…" he grew tense, frowning at the droid, "You didn't have the parts, so you used the crew."

"The crew?" Mickey gaped at the droid.

"The camera with the eye," the Doctor nodded, recalling what the Professor had told him they'd seen, "The machine with the heart. On a basic level it makes sense, human bodies operate like well oiled machines. But on a realistic level, it's not compatible."

"Why are you here though?" the Professor shook her head, "What's in 18th century France that you could need?"

"One more part is required," the droid stated, its head jerking to the side to look right at Reinette.

"Why haven't you taken the part yet then?" the Doctor inquired, making Reinette gasp at how nonchalant he was about the question.

"She is incomplete."

"And you think you can get by by opening more time holes?" the Doctor scoffed, "You'd have been better spent using the power you're wasting on this to get the ship moving to a safe port of harbor."

"Why Reinette though?" the Professor frowned, "All of 18th century, all of France, all the world and the Universe and all the time in between and you pick her specifically?"

"We are the same," it stated.

"We are not the same!" Reinette cried, offended, "We are in no sense the same!"

"We are the same."

"Get out of here!" Reinette ordered, "Get out of here this instance!"

The Time Lords were silent as the droid did just as commanded and teleported back out, knowing there was little they could do to stop it.

"I'll…I'll go try to find it," the Professor turned to the Doctor.

"You don't have to," he told her, taking her hands fully, "Mickey and Rose can handle it."

The Professor smiled smally at that, "I'm a better tracker," she countered, "And…I…" she took a breath, "I need to get over this, I need to be able to do this on my own one day. The droids are simple and weakening, I…I can stop them if I have to."

"And we won't let anything happen to her, boss," Mickey added, moving to put an arm around the Professor's shoulder…pulling it away a moment later when the Doctor gave him a narrow-eyed look for the move.

"And you'd kill 'em if they hurt her anyway," Rose added.

The Doctor let out a breath and nodded, of all the situations, this was relatively safe. The Droids were simple and slow and she would have two other people with her with extinguishers to help her, "Fine, fine," he muttered, "Take Mickey and Rose and Arthur, follow it, but don't get too close," he squeezed her hands, "Just…observe. Use those big beautiful eyes of yours."

The Professor's smile grew more real at that, "I will," she promised, leaning in to kiss his cheek before turning to head out with the humans.

Rose paused, looking at the Professor as they went, "Arthur?"

But the Professor just shook her head, leading them out of the room and leaving him with Reinette once more. He waited till the doorway in the wall had shut before he turned to Reinette, "Reinette, I must ask your permission to check your mind to see what they're looking for. May I?"

Reinette blinked, not sure how he could do such a thing, but nodded.

He reached out and touched his fingertips to her temple, closing his eyes as she did the same, gasping a moment later, "Fireplace man…how are…you are inside my mind!"

The Doctor was just silent, frowning slightly in concentration, not very comfortable with this. There was only one mind he wanted to have access to like this, and it was not quite the blonde standing before him but another.

~8~

Mickey and Rose silently followed the Professor through the halls of the ship, letting the woman focus and do as she'd offered to do in helping them track down the droids.

Mickey frowned, seeing how tense she was and started to talk just to help ease the tension slightly, "So, that Doctor, eh?"

"What are you talking about?" Rose glanced at him as the Professor was silent, moving over to a monitor in the wall and seeming to be hacking into the security system.

"Well," he shrugged, it was more awkward to say what he thought to Rose than the Professor, "Madame de Pompadour. Sarah Jane Smith. Cleopatra…"

Rose snorted at that, "Cleopatra? He mentioned her once."

"Yeah, but he called her 'Cleo,'" he joked.

"I have to speak to him about that one," the Professor murmured, before frowning, "The security's shot," she told them, turning around, "We won't be able to…Mickey!" she gasped, spotting one of the droids behind him.

Mickey spun around, trying to use the extinguisher on the droid, but it stuck him in the neck with a needle, another droid managing to do the same to Rose as it snuck up behind her.

"No!" the Professor moved to try and stop the droid from getting Rose, as she was closer, but it turned and fired a dart at her, getting her in her neck.

'_Theta!_' she managed to shout out before her world went black…

~8~

"You are in my memories," Reinette murmured, her eyes closed, the Doctor still sifting through her mind, "You walk among them…"

"If you wish for me not to see something, imagine a shut door and I won't look," the Doctor muttered, trying to catch a trace of the scanning the droids had clearly been doing for quite a while.

"To walk among the memories of another living soul," she shook her head, "Do you ever get used to this?"

"I only walk among the memories of the Professor," he countered.

"Why do you walk among them when you are already a part of them?"

"What age are you?" the Doctor asked, ignoring her last question.

"So impertinent a question so early in the conversation," she teased, "How promising."

"No, it's what they want to know," he frowned more, "You are 23 at present, but that isn't old enough for them…" he felt her flinch under his hands and murmured, "Old memories may resurface, apologies."

"Oh," Reinette breathed, her voice full of such sorrow, "Such a lonely childhood…" he was silent, letting her work through it, "Oh, Doctor. So lonely. So very, very alone."

"You were never alone," the Doctor shook his head, "Always surrounded by…" he cut himself off and stepped back from her, looking at her with a deep frown, "No one's called me 'Doctor' around you."

But Reinette wasn't looking at him, still with her eyes closed, "Such a lonely little boy. Lonely then and…" she smiled, "And then you found her," she let out a small laugh, "Your little tutor," she opened her eyes, her expression growing sad, "But you lost her, and then you were even lonelier than ever," her eyes filled with tears, "How could you bear it?"

"How did you do that?" the Doctor asked, a hard edge coming to his voice, for all he knew this could have been an elaborate trap by his enemies to get access to his mind.

"A door, once opened, can be stepped through in either direction," was all Reinette could offer, "Oh, Doctor," she stepped towards, him, "Doctor who? And the Professor of what?" she smiled a bit, "It's more than just a secret, isn't it?"

"What did you see in my head?" he demanded.

Reinette could only give him the saddest of looks and he knew, she'd seen too much, too much of him, too much of the Professor. He opened his mouth to try and say something he knew not what…when a scream sounded in his mind.

'_Theta!_'

~8~

The Professor winced as she slowly started to wake, blinking rapidly to clear her focus as the room became clearer. Which was not necessarily a good thing when she realized she was strapped to an examination table, her arms and legs and middle bound two it with the droids surrounding her.

"No," she swallowed, starting to struggle in her restraints, "No. NO!"

She could barely make out Rose and Mickey shouting for her from other examination beds, could barely register that they were there with her. All she could think of was that she was strapped down, on a board, with aliens looming over her, even if they were robots they were not of human make.

"You are compatible," one of the droids stated, a cutting tool shooting out of its hands.

She struggled more at that, knowing she was likely damaging her wrists and legs with how they were rubbing and twisting against the metal that was holding her down but her mind just kept flashing to the Krillitanes, to what they'd done to her. She was back there, in her mind, strapped down post-regeneration, too weak to break away, with the Krillitanes surrounding her, cutting into her head, inserting their collection devices, setting her up to that horrible machine and hurting her and…

"Get. Away. From. Her."

She couldn't even hear the Doctor as he entered the room, his sonic raised in threat to the droids, his teeth bared in a terrifying snarl at the sight of her in such distress and restrained, the Droids around her. He strode in, flicking his sonic at one of the droids that dared tried to stop him, shorting it out so badly that it sparked and fell to pieces before the others, which led them all to quickly fall back.

He hurried over to her side, "_Kata,_" he called to her in Gallifreyan, knowing that was the only way she'd believe he was actually there with her, "_Kata, Kata, calm down, it's me, it's Theta, I'm here, you're safe. Kata, I'm here,_" he flicked the restraints on her, breaking them and freeing her, gathering her into his arms instantly as she practically threw herself at him, crying into his shoulder as he held her shaking form, "_Shh,_" he held her close, "_Shh, I'm here. I'm here. You're safe. No one is ever going to harm you again, I swear it._"

He rocked her back and forth in his arms a moment, flicking his sonic at the humans before they could ask him to help them, releasing them from their restraints and they hurried closer to him.

"_Hey,_" he murmured, trying to distract her, "_Do you know what they were scanning Reinette's brain for?_" he hummed in her ear, smiling when he felt a small nod against him, knowing he had to get her mind off of what the droids had nearly done to her, "_Her milometer._"

"_Her age?_" the Professor mumbled against him, both of them still in Gallifreyan.

"_Apparently the ship is…_"

"_37 years old._"

He chuckled at that, "_They seem to believe when she is 37 she'll be compatible,_" he glanced over her shoulder at the droids, switching to English, "You're missing the command circuit, the brain and you want Madame de Pompadour's."

"The brain is compatible," the droids stated.

The Doctor tightened his hold on the Professor, feeling her flinch in his arms from the Droid's words and the subject of it, "Compatible?" he scoffed, "Enough of this stupidity," he muttered, flicking the sonic over his head, moving his other hand over the Professor's ears as he turned the sonic on, letting a high pitched noise fill the room that had the humans wincing but caused the droids to shake before they slumped forward, still.

"Did you kill them?" Mickey looked around.

"Minor scramble," the Doctor shook his head, "They'll power back up soon enough. Now," he looked around, "We need to find a way to turn this ship off."

"It's a control room," the Professor swallowed, pulling away from him slightly, smiling softly when he reached up to brush the tears from her cheeks, so tender, his eyes boring into her with such passion and protectiveness that she could feel the familiar sensation of security settle over her once more. She forced herself to look away though, knowing he'd need her eyes, "The windows should be controlled from here. If we close them all down…"

"Why didn't they just open a time window to when she was 37?" Rose asked as the Doctor helped the Professor off her small board, holding her hand tightly as they moved towards the controls.

"The ship was too badly damaged," the Doctor remarked, "It was trial and error to find the right point in her life," he frowned, finding the right controls but seeing they were unresponsive, "The windows aren't closing."

The Professor moved to his side when a beep went off, "Incoming transmission," she identified, "A…report from the field," she looked at the droids, stepping closer to the Doctor, "One must be in France still. The ship must have an override that it can only be closed when all crew and droids are on it."

Rose gasped as one of the droids sprang to life just beside her, nearly sending her into Mickey's arms as they backed away.

The Doctor looked up as the beep sounded again before focusing on the active droid, subtly moving the Professor further behind him, "Message from one of your little scouts?"

"She is complete," was all the droid stated, "It begins," before they all teleported out of the room.

"Ok, what's happening?" Rose turned to the Time Lords.

"I would think that would be obvious, Rose," the Doctor sighed, "'She is complete?' They found the right window. They're going after Reinette."

"And they won't stop till they've gotten their last part," the Professor added.

~8~

The Doctor and Professor worked as quickly as they could before the time window that the droids had used. They'd been able to locate it relatively easy when they'd heard Reinette screaming through it for help, about how the clock was broken and it was time, trying to guide them to her. They'd found another window along the way, one that was a few years earlier than the one they were looking for and had tasked Rose with telling Reinette to be careful and warn her about what was coming for her and when.

"You found it, then?" Rose called as she ran back into the room, having finished speaking to Reinette.

"They knew we were coming," the Doctor answered, "They've blocked the connection to the ship."

"They can come here but we can't go to them," the Professor sighed.

"I don't get it," Rose looked through the latest window, seeing a ballroom, seeing the droids pulling Reinette in and surrounding the other guests, "How come they got in there?"

"You saw them, Rose," the Professor glanced at her, "They teleported. So long as that glass remains intact and connected to France the connection to the ship is working. They've focused all their power on this window, closed all the others just after you finished Rose. This is the only connection to the ship left."

"Can't we just go in the TARDIS?" Rose turned to them.

"We're part of events now," the Doctor shook his head, "We won't be able to go within the chain that way."

"Well, can't we just smash through it?" Mickey moved over to the mirror and began to press against it, testing it, "It's just glass isn't it?"

"Hyperplex," the Professor corrected, "On this side. Plate glass likely on the other. We would need a massive amount of force to break through it."

"How much force?" Rose asked, pointing behind them.

The Time Lords looked over their shoulder to see Arthur the Horse trotting up slowly, sticking his head in through the doorway and neighing at them.

The Doctor looked at the Professor who blinked, "That would do," she nodded.

The Doctor held out a hand to her, silently asking if she wanted to come with him, see this through.

She hesitated for only a moment, knowing that it would mean going to the Ballroom where ALL the droids of the ship were now gathered. But…she'd be with the Doctor and it would be to stop them. She'd be able to go there and watch them be defeated, be stopped, and…that was what she really needed. She hadn't had that with the Krillitanes the first time. The Doctor had gotten some of them, but not all. This time she could go there and ensure they were all stopped.

She reached out and took his hand, allowing him to help her up as they hurried over to Arthur, quickly getting on his bare back a moment before the Doctor set the horse running at the window…

Allowing them to crash right through it, landing safely in the ballroom from a mirror that was attached to the wall. The Doctor led Arthur up to one of the droids standing before Reinette, two others holding her down while a handful were scattered around at the edge of the crowd. He hopped off, resting a hand on the Professor's let to tell her to stay on Arthur if she would feel better, which she did, as he turned to face the Droids.

"What the hell is going on?!" another man, the king, demanded before the Doctor could even begin to address the situation.

The Doctor just ignored him, focusing on the droid as they were the far more threatening problem at the moment. He reached out and grabbed the droid's wig, pulling it and its mask off, looking at its clockwork device within. He rolled his eyes as the droid tried to hold up its weapon, "Enough of this," he told the droid firmly, "We've broken your connection to the ship," he gestured at the shattered mirror, "You have no way back now and you don't have the parts here to continue to maintain yourselves," he watched as the droid started to push on its teleport on its wrist to no avail, "You're going to power down eventually, and I will not be powering you back up, ever. So you may as well surrender while you can," his expression grew hard, "You threatened my Bonded. You should count yourselves very lucky that I'm allowing you the chance to surrender instead of tearing you apart cog by cog."

The droid jerked a moment, as though it was staring him down, before it slumped forward, the clockwork slowing till it remained unmoving. The other droids weren't quite so lucky as they fell and shattered on the floor.

The Doctor gave a nod at that, glancing at Reinette still kneeling on the ground, "Are you alright?" she nodded so he moved back to the horse, reaching out a hand to help the Professor down, pressing a kiss to her forehead, "And you?"

"Better now," the Professor murmured.

"What's happened to them?" Reinette asked as she slowly stood.

"They've stopped," the Doctor said simply, "They have no purpose now."

He and the Professor glanced over at the mirror, wondering what their purpose would be now that the link to the ship was shattered. They had no way to get back to the TARDIS now. The box would undoubtedly bring Mickey and Rose back to their proper times the moment they stepped inside her. But she wouldn't even be able to home in on them, not now that they were literally a part of events.

~8~

Reinette paused in the hall of Versailles, taking a moment to look at the two Time Lords standing at the window and looking up at the stars. The Doctor had his arms around the Professor, her back to his front, his chin resting on her shoulder as they just…had a moment. She could see it clearer now than she could as a child how much love they had between each other. As a child she'd just thought he was a funny man dancing with a pretty lady. Now though, now she saw the tenderness and devotion between them, the care and the love. It brought tears to her eyes to see such a moment and she hated to intrude, but it was time for them to go home, they didn't belong in this time with these people and she might just have a way to help them.

"You know all their names, don't you?" she called as she moved to join them, looking up at the stars herself, "I saw that in your mind," she reminded the Doctor, before smiling at the Professor, "You taught him the name of every star."

"Took him a while," the Professor joked, "But he got there."

"Names are just titles," the Doctor defended, "Titles don't tell all that much about you."

"Says 'the Doctor,'" the Professor nudged him, "The man that always makes people better."

"Counters the Professor," he quipped right back, "The woman who enlightens all around her."

The Professor smiled at that.

Reinette observed them a moment later, seeing the wistful look in their eyes as they looked at the stars. She had seen that in his mind as well, the stars going out, a planet lost, the stars were their home now…and they were cut off, all because of her, "In saving me, you trapped yourself. Did you know that would happen?"

"We were aware," the Professor sighed.

"Yet, still you came."

"Well," the Doctor took a deep breath, "My Bonded has a keen sense of honor."

The Professor rolled her eyes, he was just as bad as she was, he just didn't admit to it.

"There were many doors between my world and yours. Can you not use one of the others?"

"Shattering the mirror shattered the connection," the Doctor shook his head.

"You'll probably find some random broken mirrors as a result," the Professor warned, "There were quite a few doorways."

Reinette nodded, "So, here you are. Stuck on the slow path, with me," she hummed but sighed at that, "It's a pity, I think I would've enjoyed your company on it," she smiled at their confused looks, "Come," she nodded to the side, turning to lead them down the hall and towards a room on the end, opening it to reveal her personal quarters…with a very familiar fireplace stationed at the other end of the room, "It's not a copy," she told them, "It's the original. I had it moved here and was exact in every detail."

"The fireplace from your bedroom," the Professor recognized it as she and the Doctor slowly approached it, "When was it moved?"

"Many years ago. In the hope that a door once opened, may someday be opened again," she observed it, trying to see any of the signs the Professor had mentioned about the broken connection, "It appears undamaged, do you think it will still work?"

"You broke the bond with the ship when you moved it," the Doctor murmured, pulling his sonic out and flashing it along the mantel, "So it was offline when the rest of the connections were severed. The first link may be there…" he grinned as the sonic beeped, "Found it," he turned to the Professor, holding out a hand to tug her closer. They looked over at Reinette, "Thank you Reinette."

"You're very welcome," she told them with a sad smile.

"Goodbye, Madame de Pompadour," the Professor gave her a small wave.

"Farewell," she nodded her head, watching as the Doctor nudged the fireplace, the entire portion spinning around, depositing them back in the ship.

"Doctor!" Rose cheered, jumping off of a crate where she had been sitting, watching the fireplace, Mickey jerking away from where he'd fallen asleep beside her, "Professor! You're back!" she rushed over to hug them quickly.

"How long was it?" the Professor asked.

"Five and a half hours," Mickey told them, hugging the Professor quickly despite the Doctor's glare in protest, shaking the man's hand as well, ignoring the second huff of protest.

"Did it work?" Rose looked between them, "Were you able to save her?"

The Professor nodded, "She's fine, and the droids have all been shut down and disposed of."

"Did they say why they thought Madame de Pompadour would fix their ship?" Rose asked as the Doctor led them over to the TARDIS doors, opening them to let them inside.

"There had to have been massive damage to the ship's memory," the Doctor shrugged, "Likely the programming got skewed."

"Or it could be that the ship is the SS Madame de Pompadour," the Professor smirked at him.

The Doctor laughed at that, winding his arm around her waist as they headed for the console, "Or that," he agreed, starting to flick a few controls as they reached it.

"The TARDIS can close down the time windows now that the droids are gone," the Professor remarked.

"Rather dull work," the Doctor murmured, glancing at Rose, "Why don't you take our Mr. Smith and show him the rest of the TARDIS?"

"Sure," Rose nodded, turning to lead Mickey up the gantry and through the door at the top.

"You know," the Professor remarked, turning to lean on the console as the Doctor pulled one of the grilling up to pluck a small white box out of the bottom of it, "You're not nearly as sneaky as you think you are. Why'd you send them off?"

"Because I wanted to be alone with you," he said simply, taking her hand and leading her over to the Captain's chair, sitting beside her and resting the white box that she now saw had a bright red cross on it on his lap.

"What's that for?" she frowned.

He just squeezed the hand he was holding and held it up, pressing the lightest of kisses to her wrist which was turning pink and red from the chafing the restraints had done as she tried to break free, "For you," he told her, opening the box, and starting to lightly clean the newly raw skin, "I'm sorry you were hurt," he murmured, looking up at her, "But I swear to you, Kata, you will never ever be truly harmed again, not while I still draw breath in this body, in every body I will ever have."

The Professor smiled, moving her hand to touch his cheek, stroking her thumb over his stubble, "I know," she leaned in and gently kissed him.

She really did know, the Doctor wouldn't ever let anything happen to her, she trusted him. And not just because he was 'the Doctor,' but because he was her Bonded, her Theta, and that was so much more important than just being the Doctor.

A/N: I hope you liked this first little chapter :) Just to refresh, this story will only be updated on Saturdays as I have other DW series, the Main Series, being updated daily so this will be more like a special treat for now :)

I hope you liked the AU Doctor and Professor's return :)

Some notes on reviews...(from the end of Rewritten: Series 1)...

The Doctor didn't come back for the Professor for a few reasons. He thought she was going to be furious with him for 'hurting' her cousin and he couldn't bear that :( He DID try to see her when he was on planet, but the High Council kept them separated. He very much was always thinking of her (as seen in Recollections) in various incarnations and wanted to travel with her, but he was never able to get back to her till after the war :( The Professor was never just waiting for him, she had a life that she got on with in his absence. She made a name for herself and lived, now she gets to be with him though :)

Yup, we have a chapter of Recollections about the Doctor meeting the Professor in the war :)

Oh we'll definitely see a Venice chapter of Recollections ;)

The AU Rose will be more follow orders due to her promise to the Professor :) But there will be a twist coming very soon that will involve Rose and her future in the TARDIS, and it will very much relate to her maturity and the way she's grown up both during her travels and after being kicked out :)

I know the Doctor in the show has brown hair, but this is an AU, it's a NEW 10th Doctor, so he has black hair in this one :) And yes, I'm also aware that the Doctor, in the show, said 'Don't you think she looks tired' but in the story the Professor was able to get the point across in just four words, 'Doesn't she look tired?' which is the same question but with fewer words ;)

I think the tired line was meant to make them question if Harriet was capable of being Prime Minister, that she was wearing out and getting tired and therefore would make mistakes :(

That's cool :) The Professor was the first OC I've ever made, I'm going to make mistakes with her and, in seeing where I go wrong with her, hopefully improve her later incarnations and other OCs away from Mary Sueness :) That is an interesting idea for Rose to become a Time Lady, I encourage you to try your hand at writing it :) I'm sure you'll do wonderfully ;)

I haven't seen the TV movie yet :( But I do plan to eventually do rewrites of the Classic Series which would eventually include the movie in it :)

I understand your feelings :) In my story there are other circumstances that influence the Doctor's feelings on things, regenerating into an entirely new Doctor makes his thoughts on things different. The current 12th Doctor doesn't seem to care for other human life save for Clara's so my AU 10 isn't too far away. I don't believe I missed the entire point of DW, I think I took a more extreme look at how someone might react to certain circumstances, I fully understand the point of the Dalek episode was to show that the Doctor needed humans to keep HIM human, and that's where I wanted to stray, to a 'what if' there was just an alien with him, an alien that's done much worse than the Doctor and destroyed more planets and people and taken more lives than him, how would that change who he is compared to who Rose made him :) You should actually check out my Heart of Time Saga series, Rose is just an absolute wonder and joy in that story and very close :) I like to challenge myself to write characters in a different perspective. While Rose might have been found lacking with the Professor, she's basically like family to another Time Lady :) I sort of take the Doctor as yes, he loves humanity, and he will fight to the death to protect it, but if it ever came down to that or the very last of his kind besides him, the thing that keeps him from being 100% alone, he might find himself considering a terrible choice of not picking humanity, after being alone for over a century, he may crave not being alone, it does things to people :( I do different outlooks and reactions to the same situation in all my stories. Where the Doctor might be completely horrified by something in one story, he might be considering it in another, I try to vary the stories so, while I may have 'missed the point of the show' in exploring one possible perspective of it here, I probably didn't miss it in another series ;) Overall though, the AU Academic Series is meant to take the Doctor down a darker road as the show itself seems to progressively get darker as we go :)


	2. Rise of the Cybermen

Rise of the Cybermen

Rose was smiling as she leaned against the console of the TARDIS, listening to the Professor and the Doctor speaking of one of their adventures when they'd been children. The Time Lords were sitting on the captain's chair, side by side, the Doctor with his arm around the Professor's shoulders while the two laughed and laughed. She hadn't been able to follow much of what they'd been saying, half the time it would end up being bits and pieces of dialogue as they would start on a story but, as they both knew what story it was, it would jump around to funny parts or random lines or other things that made it difficult to understand.

Mickey, she knew, had given up trying ages ago…speaking of Mickey…she looked over her shoulder to see him standing a little ways behind her on the other side of the console, a faint, confused smile on his face as he tried to nod along with the story, pushing a button of the console absently as he listened.

She shook her head and focused back on the duo before her.

"And then he goes, 'I didn't know it could grow!'" the Professor was explaining.

"Well how was I?" the Doctor chuckled, smiling at her as he recalled that tale, "It hadn't grown in ages since I'd found it."

"The dunce didn't realize that it needed…"

"Yes, yes, and when he ate all of it in the kitchens…"

"And it was so large, I thought it was going to explode!"

"Well, it did in a way."

"All over you."

"…that stench!"

"…for a week straight you smelled like rubbish!"

"Oi, it wasn't just me!" he poked her.

"Cos you hugged me every chance you got! I didn't hear the end of it from Romana or the Rani for ages!"

"You must have loved me even then," he smiled at her, "Letting me hug you when I smelled like sewage…"

"I would have loved you if you were covered in _actual_ sewage," the Professor told him.

He smiled at her for that, reaching up to touch her cheek before leaning in to kiss her, making Rose smile fondly at the sight. But, when they continued to kiss, not letting up to breathe, she turned to Mickey, about to give him a look as though to ask if he could believe those two…when she saw he was STILL pushing that button from before, "Um, Mick, what're you pushing that for?"

Mickey glanced down at the button and shrugged, "'Cos they told me to..."

"Sorry what?" the Professor pulled away from the Doctor, glancing over at Mickey, "Who told you to do what?"

"The Doctor," Mickey nodded at the man before gesturing at the button, "He told me to push the button."

"That was a half an hour ago," the Doctor pointed out.

"Yeah."

"I didn't say to_ keep_ it pushed."

Mickey's eyes widened slightly before they narrowed at the Doctor, "I coulda stopped half an hour ago!?"

"I'd've thought that was obvious…"

"What, did you just forget to tell me?!"

"To be honest," the Doctor stated, "I thought 'push that button' was a universal saying and done with the understanding that one merely had to push a button and let go."

"Which button exactly are you pushing?" the Professor inquired.

"I dunno," Mickey shrugged, pulling his hand away and rubbing his sore finger.

The Professor stood and made her way over to Mickey to see, wanting to make sure that it wouldn't fry the circuits to have that button held down or that it wasn't something that would damage the TARDIS. She had only just reached his side when the TARDIS jolted, the console exploding in flames as the Professor had reached out to indicate a button for confirmation, sending sparks and fires sailing into the air.

"Professor!" the Doctor was on his feet and half throwing himself across the console space towards the Time Lady as she fell back onto the floor from the force and surprise of the explosions, Mickey ducking down to the side as well.

It was difficult to make it to her, the box was bucking and jerking so badly that even the Time Lords feared they might be launched into the air.

"What's happened?!" Rose cried.

But the Doctor ignored her, reaching out to take the Professor's cringing face in his hands as he made it to her, needing to know she was ok. She was panting heavily and shaking so he rested his forehead to hers, opening his mind to her own and looking in, seeing a memory playing out in her mind, trapping her in the past. This was all far too similar to when the Krillitanes had captured her, to how her own ship had been shot down and attacked…

She was terrified it was happening again.

His jaw tensed at that as he pushed himself to his feet and grabbed at the console, trying to get the box under control. He knew being around the Krillitanes before hadn't been good for her, not at all, and then to couple that with being strapped to a board by the Clockwork Droids just as the Krillitanes had had her hadn't helped at all, nor had confronting the beasts eased her mind. All the progress she had made in trying to be comfortable around other aliens had been shattered because of those events and this…if they were really under attack, well, he was tempted to find a way to decimate his attackers if only to protect the Professor more. It was a dark thought admittedly, something that was very un-Doctor like in a general sense, but this was his Bonded and she'd been tortured and manipulated and harmed enough and he would sooner send himself to hell than let her come to harm again on his watch.

He frowned though when he reached the monitor, seeing what the sensors had picked up, "It's not an attack," he breathed to himself, before shouting over his shoulder at the Professor, "It's not an attack…the Time Vortex is gone!"

His words, his voice, broke through the Professor's terrified memories, and she forced herself to look up at him, "What?"

It was so quiet he wouldn't have heard her if he hadn't been looking at her, watched her lips form the question, he knew she was slightly reassured that it wasn't an attack, but the shock of it all, of their safe place exploding around her had been enough to jar her to the point of slowing her mind. She always could think quicker than him, but when she was scared enough, instead of everything speeding up, it slowed down, including her thoughts and processing, and something as traumatic as what the Time Lords had done to her during the War and what the Krillitanes had continued to do to her was enough to cause just such a reaction.

"It's just gone," he reaffirmed, seeing her shaking her head as though that couldn't possibly be the answer…and she was right to think it, it _couldn't_ be the answer, it WAS impossible. He looked back at the monitor, his eyes widening as a warning started to flash across it, "Brace yourself!" he threw over his shoulder to Mickey and Rose, rushing back to the Professor's side and dropping to his knees beside her, gathering her in his arms to steady her as the TARDIS gave one final, massive jolt so powerful that it caused emergency gasmasks to fall from the ceiling much like on a human airplane. Even worse…the lights had gone out entirely save for a very faint flicker from the rotor.

The Doctor took a breath, waiting a moment after all seemed to calm, before pulling away and looking at the Professor, "Are you alright?" he asked her, cupping her face in his hands, his eyes searching hers.

She nodded, "I'm…" she gasped slightly, "I will be."

He frowned at that, sensing a bit of a lie in her words but knowing that she meant that she HOPED she'd be better and he was not about to tell her otherwise.

"What about the others?" she tried to look around, but she couldn't see Rose or Mickey from where they were, "Rose? Mickey!?"

"I'm fine," Mickey's voice called back from the other side of the console, "We're ok," they could see him standing, helping Rose up now.

The Doctor trailed his hands down from the Professor's face to her hands, standing slowly and helping her up as well. It didn't take long, however, for his gaze to drift from the Professor, now reassured she was at least slightly ok, to the dark console.

"I don't believe it," the Professor murmured, frowning at the controls and taking a step towards them, flicking a switch in test and frowning deeper at the lack of results.

"What?" Rose cleared her throat, looking between the Time Lords, "What is it?"

"The TARDIS is dead…"

"But…you can fix it, yeah?" Mickey stepped closer to Rose at that answer.

The Doctor shook his head even as the Professor crouched down to try and look at the undercontrols, "We could, if there was anything to fix. This isn't a problem with the TARDIS, not an internal one at least. Something's happened and she just…"

"Perished," the Professor finished, pulling herself up, "I don't understand though," she mumbled, and she really hated not understanding.

The Doctor reached out and took her hand, understanding. This was an old TARDIS admittedly, but she still had SO much life in her. It had been a museum piece when they were both just children, already so old, but it had kept fighting and pushing and flying and…it was difficult to think that it just gave out.

'_There has to be another explanation,_' the Professor determined in his mind, sensing his thoughts, '_Our old box wouldn't just…stop, not with YOU as her pilot._'

The Doctor felt his lips quirk into a smile at that, '_If it's not internal…it must be an external cause._'

"Well, can we…can we get someone to help?" Rose asked.

"Who?" the Doctor nearly snorted, tempted to roll his eyes at the question as he glanced at the human girl. If the two Time Lords, the ones trained to operate and maintain the box, had no idea what had happened or how to fix it, then who else would? No one.

"Well, we've landed," Rose gestured at the doors, Mickey glancing over at them before heading to them, "We've gotta be somewhere."

"The only place that exists outside of the Vortex is the Void," the Doctor shook his head, "It's a place of never-ending nothing. The Howling, the Lost Dimension, Hell…"

"Otherwise known as London!" Mickey laughed from the doorway, making them look over to see…sunlight? Yes, sunlight was streaming in from outside, illuminating him. He glanced over at them and winked, stepping outside and leaving them little option but to follow him right out the doors and…

Into 21st century London.

"London, England, Earth," Mickey exclaimed as he hopped off of a small wall at the bottom of a little hill the TARDIS had crashed on, picking up an average newspaper from a rubbish bin to find the date, "First of February, this year," he frowned, tossing the paper back down and looking at the Time Lords, "Not exactly far-flung, is it?"

"It might just be more far-flung than you think," the Professor remarked, looking around, taking it all in, the Doctor right beside her with his hand on the small of her back, balancing her as she held a hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun and looked up.

"What do you mean?" Rose glanced at the aliens.

"Well, last time I checked, London didn't have zeppelins," the Professor pointed up to where an enormous amount of zeppelins were just drifting past in the sky.

"What the hell..." Mickey gaped.

Rose, however, grinned, "That's _beautiful._"

The Doctor scoffed at that, his arm sliding further along the Professor's waist to her other side, "I've seen far more beautiful just waking up in the mornings."

The Professor looked at him with a faint smile, "You must be seeing someone else then, I'm terrifying in the morning."

"Hmm…" he hummed, as though thinking of it, "No," he shook his head, "No I'm quite sure that you're breathtaking. Truly," he lightly touched her cheek, "The reason I wake at all is to look upon your sleeping visage in the moments before you wake, though, I must say the sight of your eyes when they've opened does tie with that…"

"Stop it," she lightly swatted his chest, a blush starting to creep onto her face at his words.

But he wasn't done yet, "And the fact that I wake before you well," he grinned wolfishly, leaning in to brush his nose along her temple, whispering in her ear, "It bolsters my pride to know I've tired you out so in the night that you wake after I do."

"Doctor!" she almost hissed at him, her face fully red now, which only served to make his grin grow even more.

Mickey and Rose, who had been subtly watching, if not trying (and failing) to listen to what was making the Professor go so red, had to laugh at the picture of them. Mickey shook his head, deciding to save the Professor some embarrassment and attempt to pull the Doctor's attention over, however impossible that might be, "It's London with a big international zeppelin festival then."

"No," the Doctor looked back at the humans, his hand sliding to the small of the Professor's back once more, acting completely nonchalant, as though he hadn't just caused his Bonded to turn into a tomato, "This is not your world, Mickey Smith."

Mickey looked genuinely confused now, "But if the _date's_ the same..."

"Think it out, Mickey," the Professor cleared her throat, trying to step away from the Doctor for more distance to allow her blush to diminish, but the Doctor stepped after her, keeping her close, "The date and place are the same, similar, almost equivalent to each other…"

"It's parallel!" Mickey shouted, getting it, "Right? Am I right?" he beamed as she nodded, "A parallel Earth where they've got Zeppelins!"

"So, a parallel world where…" Rose trailed off as she tried to look around, wanting to know what else might be different, and spotted something that was VERY different, to her at least.

"Oh, come on. You see it on films. Like an alternative to our world were everything's the same but a little bit different, like...I dunno, traffic lights are blue, Tony Blair never got elected..."

"And he's still alive..."

The Time Lords blinked and turned in unison to follow Rose's gaze to a poster for a vitamin drink that was hanging on the side of a wall. But they quickly realized it was not the advertisement or the drink in question that had captivated Rose but more so…the man selling it.

Pete Tyler.

Rose's father was staring right back on them, holding a bottle of something called 'Vitex' and dressed in a very finely tailored suit, very much alive.

"A parallel world and my dad's still alive," Rose breathed, starting to walk towards it, not noticing the Professor glancing at the Doctor in concern or how he was tensing, his expression growing more stony as she walked away from them.

"Rose…" Mickey tried to get her attention, knowing all too well exactly why Rose had been kicked out of the TARDIS the first time, knowing what had happened the last time that she had been around her father while alive and, with just one glance at the Time Lords, he knew they were recalling it as well.

"Rose," the Professor even attempted to draw her focus away, glancing back and forth between the human and the Doctor, able to feel the emotions rolling off him and none of them were good, "Rose don't look," she half-pleaded.

"Don't even THINK about it," the Doctor nearly growled, his hands clenching into fists.

All he could see, all he could remember, was that man and how Rose had wanted to save him…and how the Professor had nearly been lost to him forever because of it. All of it was coming back to him, all the bad memories, all the dark emotion, all the anger at Rose for her actions, for how she'd ignored their warnings, for how she had caused the Professor to be taken from him…Rose and that man on the poster.

"Rose, this isn't your reality," the Professor tried again, really not wanting anything to set them back in the progress they'd made. The Doctor was helping her get over her fear of other aliens, and she was trying to help him accept Rose and forgive her for what happened when she'd tried to save her father last time, "That's not him."

"But it IS," Rose whispered, staring, "It's my dad…" she reached out and touched the poster, nearly jumping back as it sprang to life, like a hologram, the Pete on the poster grinning and winking and giving them a thumbs up while a recording spoke 'Trust me on this,' "Oh, that's weird," Rose admitted, but started to smile, "But he's real! He's a success! He was always planning these daft little schemes, health-food drinks and stuff. Everyone said they were useless…"

"Yes, Rose," the Doctor nearly bit out, "We're WELL aware."

Rose tensed at that, hearing the anger rising in his voice and slowly turned to look at them, the Doctor seemed near seething but was barely holding it back for the Professor's sake who was clinging to his sleeve to keep him grounded. She swallowed hard, finally realizing why the man looked so angry.

She had told them this, both of them, when they'd met her father, she'd told them about his little inventions and how useless they were…after she'd saved him, after she'd sparked events that nearly brought about the end of the world. After she'd almost forced the man who had lost everything from his friends to his family to his own planet to lose the one person he had left, the woman he loved.

"Rose," the Professor took a step before the Doctor, either not trusting him to move farther away from him or not wanting to do so, but she moved in between the Doctor and Rose, focusing on the girl before her, "You need to listen carefully, ok?" she gave Rose a pointed look, reminding her of the agreement they had for her travelling with them again, she HAD to listen and do as she was told or she would be brought back to Jackie and that would be the end of her travels with them, "Rose, your father is dead. I'm sorry, but he is. Your REAL father, he died when you were six months old. That man on that poster is NOT your father. He may be Pete Tyler, but he isn't the RIGHT Pete Tyler. Ok?" she eyed Rose, "Chances are, he's even got his own Rose, his own daughter or children. And you CANNOT interfere with that. Understood?"

Rose swallowed hard, her gaze flickering to the Doctor, the man looking as though he were just waiting to see what she'd say before he either dragged her back to the TARDIS and locked her in, or abandoned her in the alternate London. So she nodded.

The Doctor gave a firm, small nod as well and turned on his heel, stalking back to the TARDIS as Rose winced at the action. Mickey stepped to her side, putting an arm around her shoulder in comfort as the Professor sighed, glancing between them before following the Doctor to the box, knowing that he would need some time to gather himself and calm down.

She supposed there was at least one thing to be thankful for…if this was really Parallel London, then, maybe, there was a chance that it was one where aliens didn't attack as constantly as they seemed to do in Real London.

She could hope.

~8~

The Professor looked over as Mickey stepped into the TARDIS a short while later. She was sitting on the captain's chair, looking at the Doctor who was standing with his hands braced against the console, his back to her, rigid and tense as he tried to push his negative feelings about Rose and Pete and that whole mess down. She knew he needed quiet before, needed time to process and to remind himself that SHE was still there, that he'd gotten her back, and to remember that Rose had learned her lesson. So she'd merely sat down and waited it out, allowing her presence and the sound of her breathing to help keep him grounded and aware of the present, to not get lost in what-ifs of the past. She was quite glad though that Mickey had chosen then to come in, and without Rose, hopefully it would be the distraction that the Doctor needed.

"Everything alright Mick?" she called out to him as he made his way up towards them.

"Yeah," he nodded, glancing between her and the Doctor a moment before focusing on her, "Everything's fine, everyone's fine," he added at the end.

The Doctor snorted at that, his back still to them, shaking his head and grumbling under his breath, "If she goes wandering off, she'll try to find Pete. You humans, with your temptations and lack of self control."

The Professor rolled her eyes at that and stood, moving over to his side, placing her hand on his arm so that he'd look at her, "You're one to talk," she teased him, "You've _never_ had a lick of self control in your life."

"Hardly," he countered, "How do you think I refrained from pulling you into every available cupboard and snogging you senseless when we were in school?"

She blinked at that, the blush coming back to her cheeks, though he was smiling now so she was a little more willing to allow it instead of reprimand him for his words, "I don't know, how?" she continued.

"Massive self-control," he informed her, "And many, MANY designs for a new screwdriver…"

The Professor laughed at that, placing her hand on his as it rested absently on a control, "Well, sometimes lack of control can be a good thing then," she remarked playfully, "If you'd had less, perhaps the entire mess with Mayra would have been avoided."

"Oh don't remind me," he grumbled, grimacing at the memory of his ex-wife, though he couldn't help but smile after at the giggle she gave.

"Everything will be alright," she promised him, "We just…we just have to work out how to get the TARDIS running again and find a way back to our world and all of this will be resolved. The sooner we do that, the sooner you can stop worrying."

"I'll never stop worrying about you," he confessed quietly.

She tilted her head at that, "I'm not the one in danger of running off to reunite with my dead father, nor would I want to even if he were alive in this universe."

It was disturbingly quiet in their minds the moment they stepped out the doors. They weren't sure if it was that they were in a universe they didn't belong in and, therefore, couldn't connect with that realm, but they couldn't sense Time Lords, anywhere. It was like complete silence in their minds which made them feel like the Time War had happened in this universe as well, but that no one, not even the Daleks had survived it.

"But Rose is," he reminded her, "And the last time her father was around and she was there…" he swallowed hard, not even wanting to mention it.

"Then we keep her closer," the Professor told him, squeezing his hand, "We hold her hand if we have to, make sure she can't run off and save him from a runaway car this time," the Doctor nodded slowly, considering that, "And this time he's already alive, he's not dead yet, it's not his past, there is a man alive in this world that is meant to BE alive. The Reapers won't come this time, I don't think."

"I hope not," he murmured.

"Reapers?" Mickey spoke, making them both jump as they'd quite forgotten he was there, now sitting on the captain's chair where the Professor had been, "Those bat things that were attacking the church?" or at least that was how Rose had described it.

"Exactly," the Professor nodded, "We don't want a repeat of that."

"So we had better find a way back to our universe before Rose brings about the end of the world again," the Doctor added.

"Doctor," the Professor gave him a slight warning look at the dark tone his voice had taken on.

He let out a breath, "I can't help it," he shook his head, turning to look up at the rotor, "We're not meant to be here," he added, "If the TARDIS draws its power off the universe and this isn't the right Universe, even if we find out what went wrong, even if we find a way to get the power flowing again, there's no way to fill her engines back up with fuel. It would be the wrong sort."

"Like… diesel in a petrol engine?" Mickey frowned, trying to follow along.

"Got it in one," the Professor smiled at him, "We need power from our Universe to power a box from our universe. And right now there's no power…"

"How'd this even happen though?" Mickey shook his head, "I mean, I've seen it in comics. People are hopping from one alternative world to another, it's easy."

"In comics perhaps," the Professor conceded, "But this isn't a comic, this is a real spaceship," she blinked at that, "Never mind," that was probably the WORST example to give.

"It used to be easy though, once," the Doctor mused, "When the Time Lords kept order, kept the walls between worlds maintained. Oh you could hop between realities, home in time for tea," he grew grim at the thought, "And then the War, then they died, couldn't maintain it all for long. The walls of reality closed, the worlds were sealed without something there to keep it open."

"Then how did we get here?"

"Maybe one of the rifts didn't seal fully," the Professor shrugged, "Like when you button up your shirt but miss a button, there's that little hole you could sneak through before you fix it. The TARDIS bursting through would have thrown that rift wide open, it'll start to seal itself properly before too long," she looked at the Doctor with a frown at that, without the monitors they wouldn't be able to know exactly how long they had before the world sealed off entirely.

The Doctor looked down at her, about to answer, when he caught sight of a faint flicker in the edge of his sight, just down below, "What's that?" he looked down entirely, right through the grilling beneath his and the Professor's feet he could see a tiny green light buried in the darkness.

"What?" Mickey got up and walked over to them, looking down at it.

"Is that a reflection?" the Doctor squinted.

The Professor's eyes widened however, "No!" she gasped, quickly picking up the grilling and half-shoving it into the Doctor's hand as she hopped down beneath the console to get the source of the small light, being careful to shift objects to the side and out of the way without breaking anything, "It's a power cell!" she cheered as she found it, popping up in the grille opening with a small little object that seemed almost crystal in appearance in her hands.

"What do you think?" the Doctor looked at the Professor, "Enough to power the TARDIS back to our universe?"

The Professor frowned at the cell, rolling it over in her hands, scanning it slightly, "It might be," she nodded, considering, running calculations in her head, "But it needs more of a charge first…"

"We could go outside and latch it up to the national grid!" Mickey offered.

But the Professor shook her head, "Wrong sort of power, it has to be energy from our universe."

"But we don't have anything…"

"Our universe, our world," the Doctor added, "It's a_ Gallifreyan_ Power Cell, Mickey, it needs Gallifreyan power to start it up."

"Then it's completely hopeless," Mickey sighed.

"No," the Professor shook her head, "WE are Gallifreyan power sources. That's the body after all, just a large power source to keep all your energy inside."

"We can power it," the Doctor agreed, reaching down to cup the Professor's hands holding the cell, the two of them looking at each other a moment before they took a deep breath and gently blew out air onto the cell, "We just gave away ten years of our lives," he remarked to the Professor.

"Good thing almost every incarnation can just about go on to infinity if we're careful," she smiled in return, "10 years to get back home is a small price to pay from infinity."

"It's going out," Mickey pointed at the cell as its light began to fade, "Is that ok?"

"Watch a mo," the Professor opened her hands more, revealing the cell powering back up, starting to loop and fade in and out, "That's a recharging cycle."

"It'll loop round, power back up and be ready to take us home in...24 hours?" the Doctor checked with the Professor.

"If we let it charge up, I'd say 12," she corrected, "We _both_ gave 10 years, that cuts the time in half."

The Doctor nodded at that, "Brilliant," he leaned in and gave her a small peck for that.

"So," Mickey spoke, both out of a minute awkwardness and also a desire to keep them from doing nothing but kissing, "That gives us 12 hours on a parallel world?"

The Doctor frowned at that till the Professor put her hand on his, "Oh come on Doctor, where's your sense of adventure?"

'_It's a parallel world,_' she reminded him, '_Hopefully parallel enough where we won't walk down the street and find aliens instead of humans. I'm curious what this world is like._'

He sighed, but nodded, a small smile on his face at her curiosity resurfacing, "Alright," he agreed, "Let's go find Rose and hope the apocalypse hasn't started."

That earned him another small whack on the arm from the Professor.

~8~

They found Rose relatively quickly, she wasn't that far from the TARDIS, just a few feet away, closer to the Thames embankment, sitting on a bench and staring out at the waters, her mobile clutched in her hand as they joined her.

"We should be able to leave soon Rose," the Professor began, waving the power cell at her, "Just about 12 hours and this'll give us enough power to go back to our universe…" she trailed off as Rose didn't even look over, seeming lost in her thoughts, her hand squeezing the mobile even tighter.

Something that didn't escape the Doctor's notice as well, "What is it?"

"My phone connected," Rose murmured, "There's this...Cybus Network, it finds your phone. It gave me Internet access."

The Time Lords exchanged a glance at that, just knowing what she must have looked up, "Rose," the Professor sighed, moving to sit down beside the girl, "No matter what the Internet says, Pete Tyler isn't YOUR Pete, he's not your proper dad…"

"Of course he isn't," Rose almost snorted in derision, "Cos I don't exist."

"What?" the Doctor frowned at that.

Rose sighed, rubbing her face, "There's no Rose Tyler. I was never born. There's Pete, my dad, and Jackie, he still married mum, but they never had kids," she sniffled slightly and looked down at her phone, "They're rich. They've got a house and cars, and everything they want…but they haven't got me."

"Rose," the Professor shook her head, not needing to be a genius to understand where this was going. If there was no Rose in this universe, why couldn't THIS Rose fit the bill? She was almost certain that was what Rose would be thinking, that, because they didn't have her here, that her dad didn't have her, she could go find him and be the daughter he never had.

Rose just stood up quickly and started to walk off, only making it a few steps before she turned to face them, "I've gotta see him."

"No," the Doctor said firmly, not even considering allowing this to happen.

"I just wanna _see_ him," Rose insisted.

"What like last time?" the Doctor demanded, an inch away from glaring at her, "When you just wanted to sit with him and wait and ended up calling down the Reapers on us? When you ended up killing the Professor!"

"_Theta_," the Professor tried to calm him down in Gallifreyan, but he was too irate.

"I will NOT let that happen again."

"Rose," the Professor turned to the girl, "This isn't how it works, just because you don't exist here doesn't mean you can waltz into his life and become his daughter. Have you considered that THIS Pete doesn't have children for a reason? What if they chose not to have any? They won't accept you and it will hurt, badly."

"Mickey," the Doctor rounded on the boy, hoping he, as a human, might be able to get through to Rose more than they could, "Tell her!"

But even Mickey seemed to be contemplating a trip of his own, "12 hours, yeah?"

"And where're you going?" he demanded.

"Well, I can do what I want!" Mickey defended.

"Look, I've got the address and everything," Rose called, starting to walk backwards, "I just want to SEE him, I won't say anything, I won't go near him, I just need to see him _living_."

"Both of you, stay where you are!" the Doctor ordered, but neither human listened.

"If this is what having children is like, I say we forgo that," the Professor mumbled to him, running a hand through her hair, trying to think of a way around this. But there was only one she could see, "You go with Mickey," she turned to the Doctor, the humans weren't stopping and they were getting father and father away, they had to be quick, "I'll go with Rose…"

"Are you insane?!"

"I'm quite sane, thank you," she deadpanned, giving him an unamused look and crossing her arms at how he'd snapped at her, "But this is the only way to keep them both out of trouble, we split up, go with each of them, and meet back here in 12 hours. We _need_ to split up, each of us with one of them. You with Mickey, and me with Rose."

"No," he shook his head, "_I'll_ take Rose, last time she was near her father YOU died."

"I don't think that's a wise idea, Doctor," the Professor mimicked him, holding firm, "You're more likely to kill her than I am after last time. You'll be in no state to keep an eye on her this time because of it. _I_ will take Rose, YOU keep with Mickey, and that is the end of this discussion."

And with that, before the Doctor could even open his mouth to argue, the Professor turned and jogged off to Rose, walking beside the girl and not looking back.

The Doctor let out a huff of irritation, not willing to admit she was probably right about how he'd be around Rose, and turned to stalk off after Mickey, not at ALL happy with this turn of events.

Why did humans have to be SO bloody stubborn!?

~8~

Mickey was silent as he walked with the Doctor along a back road and with good reason, the man was nearly glowering as he stalked about. He wasn't sure if it was from the fact that he'd been parted from the Professor in the first place or that the Professor was left with Rose on her own. He was sure it was an equal enough mix. The man, from what he could tell of his few meetings in the past, didn't do well when he was away from the Professor, he much preferred to be with her above anyone else. Give how little the Doctor had come to care for Rose as well on top of the fact of the event that led to Rose being kicked out of the TARDIS in the first place did not make for a good mix. He didn't know what he could say to try and ease the man's ire and obvious dislike of the situation, so he kept silent. He'd been in enough situations to know when to hold his tongue and the last thing he wanted was an even angrier Time Lord hanging about him.

His thoughts were pulled away when they came to a barrier in the road, a handful of military men standing around it, "Are we alright to get past?" he asked, seeing the Doctor didn't appear to be paying attention not that he'd want to risk the Time Lord talking to anyone anyway.

"Yeah," one of the soldiers nodded, "No bother. Curfew doesn't start 'til ten."

"There's a curfew?"

"Course there is," the man gave Mickey an odd look for his question, "Where've you been living, mate? Up there with the toffs?" he jerked his thumb up at the zeppelins.

Mickey just offered him a smile, "I wish," he joked before glancing at the Doctor who was already heading for the barrier that was being lifted for them, "See ya!" he called to the soldiers as he jogged to catch up to the Time Lord.

For a man over 900 years old he was quite spry.

~8~

"Thank you," Rose spoke as she and the Professor headed down a busy street, careful to avoid bumping into too many people. She glanced at the Time Lady to see her giving her an odd look, her arms crossed over her chest as they walked, "For coming with me. I…" she sighed, "I actually thought I'd have to go it alone," she tried to smile at that, but it still stung to think that the Doctor likely would have refused to go with her at all, she wouldn't blame him though, still…it did hurt to think that.

"You wouldn't have gone alone," the Professor shook her head, "Humans need looking after," she shrugged, focusing back on the people around them, frowning slightly at all the earpods blinking away in everyone's ear, "Forgive my saying Rose, but you don't have the best track record for controlling yourself. In the interest of preserving humanity, one of us would have HAD to go with you."

"Thanks," Rose scoffed slightly at the words though the Professor had no barb or bitter tone behind it, it was more like she felt she was stating a genuine fact, "I'm glad that you wanted to split up though. Someone should have gone with Mickey."

"Yes…where IS he going anyway?" the Professor asked, side stepping to avoid a rather busy looking man as he fumbled to get papers in order.

"I think he's going to see if his gran is still around," Rose sighed, "Mickey's mum just couldn't cope. His dad hung around for a while, but then he just sort of wandered off. He was brought up by his gran," she smiled slightly, recalling the woman, "She was _such_ a great woman. God, she used to _slap_ him!"

The Professor stopped walking at that, forcing Rose to stop a few steps away when she realized they weren't walking to turn to her, "You're laughing," she stated, frowning at Rose.

And indeed Rose was, she was chuckling as she recalled the woman she'd been speaking of, "Yeah?"

"You just said that Mickey's gran used to SLAP him…and you're _laughing_," the Professor shook her head, "You actually find it amusing that Mickey used to be HIT as a child?"

Rose blinked at the true and utter repulsion in the Professor's voice, "I…"

"It's not a laughing matter Rose," the Professor cut in, far too serious, "Abuse, whether verbal or mental or emotional or physical is NEVER something to inflict on a child nor is LAUGHING about it in any way acceptable! If your mother has smacked you across the face as a toddler would YOU think it was all that funny? It's…it's horrific and barbaric and anyone that would dare raise a hand to a CHILD deserves a special place in HELL and that's if they survive meeting me first!"

"I'm sorry," Rose swallowed, startled at how the Professor was acting, how vehemently she was speaking, the…the tears that were starting to appear in her eyes, "I just meant…"

But the Professor held up a hand, closing her eyes and taking a few deep breaths to calm herself. It was always hard to speak of something like that, hurting a child in any manner, even if it was a single slap once in their life it was far too much, and all it served to do was bring up the worst memories of her life, truly second only to the horrors of the war. And the Doctor wasn't there to calm her, to hold her, reassure her…it made her more on edge.

"Believe me Rose," she took one final breath and opened her eyes, forcing the tears back, "From the child's perspective, even a single slap is nothing to laugh about."

Rose stared at her a moment, a realization starting to dawn in her eyes, "You…"

The Professor nodded sharply, not wanting her to finish what she was going to say, "My father," was all she offered, "Mickey may love his gran, despite what she did or how she treated him, but just because HE doesn't hold it against her does NOT give YOU the right to laugh at something that hurt him in his past. You wouldn't want someone to laugh at you for losing your father would you?"

"No," Rose shook her head, before nodding slowly, "I'm sorry. I should have been more considerate, I…it's not funny, not at all, not even looking back at it. Kids just…" she let out a breath, "We think it's funny when it's not US that's getting in trouble. But it wouldn't be funny if it WAS us. So I'm sorry."

The Professor nodded again, knowing she shouldn't get this worked up or drive Rose to apologize to HER for something she was poking fun at Mickey over, but it did mean something to her to know that Rose seemed to understand how callous she had been in her laughter.

"So…Mickey wants to see her?" she offered, trying to get them back on their prior discussion.

Rose hesitated, waiting till the Professor started walking again as a sign that they were ok before she spoke, "She died, Rita Anne, his gran, she tripped and fell down the stairs. It's about five years ago, now. I was still in school," she frowned, thinking back on that event, "There was this…this tear in the carpet, Mickey always said he'd fix it one day but he just…and then she fell and he…" she shook her head, not wanting to bring up too much of Mickey's life to someone else without his say, "Do you think she's still alive, his gran?"

"Your father is," the Professor shrugged, "And he passed long before Rita Anne. It's possible his gran could be alive just as Peter is," she looked at Rose, "It's another reason to split up, being around people that you thought you lost, people that you loved dearly, it…it can make us act rash, differently than we normally would. To have lost something and to get it back…you don't want to risk losing it again."

Rose smiled softly at that, nodding, "I get that," she agreed, nearly laughing when the Professor gave her a questioning look, "The Doctor. I only met him the once before he found you but…I wouldn't have expected him to react like he did to the Dalek or…or when I went to see my father. He really loves you, doesn't he?"

"I like to think he does," the Professor started to smile as well.

"And that's why I don't blame him for what he did, or what he thinks of me now," Rose sighed, "He really loves you, and he thought he lost you. Now he's got you back…he doesn't want to lose you again, and I nearly caused it to happen. I wasn't much better in attitude when you were trying to tell me my dad HAD to pass away, that I had to lose him after just getting him back…and I still had mum. I still have my friends and family and planet, I can't even begin to imagine what it's like for you and the Doctor," she glanced at the Professor, "You just have each other and your box. I wouldn't want to be the thing that threatens the other when one is around," she nudged the Professor playfully in the arm, letting her know she didn't hold anything against her or the Doctor for what had happened in the past.

Before the Professor could respond though a sharp whistle sounded through the air and every person around them froze in place, startling the Professor and Rose.

"What're they all doing?" Rose frowned at the Professor.

The Professor's face scrunched in confusion as she stepped closer to a young woman, peering at her till she realized that the earpods she'd noticed before weren't blinking any longer but were just lit up. She reached out and touched it, allowing herself to scan it, getting an idea of what it was, "These earpods," she murmured, "They're connected to their wearers…and to each other as well…"

Rose nearly jumped when her mobile beeped in her pocket, quickly taking it out and flipping it open, "It's on my phone too," she held it up for the Professor to see as she stepped away from the young woman and over to her side, "It's automatic, look. It's downloading. Is this what they're all getting?" she scrolled through the download, "News, international news, sports, weather..."

The Professor glanced around at the humans, "I think it's downloading right into their minds…"

"TV schedules, lottery numbers..."

"Rose," the Professor cut, "This isn't good, this is really _very_ bad," she looked at the human, "Being able to drop something into someone's mind doesn't just mean a quick download, it means whoever's doing it has ACCESS to their minds," she shook her head, crossing her arms across her as she eyed the humans, her mind drifting back to a very dark time for herself, "And if they have access to a mind, they can control a mind, bend it…break it."

Rose frowned at the tone the Professor had taken, it was similar to when she'd been talking about Mickey's gran, like she knew far too well what she was talking about. She glanced down at her phone, wanting to help, "Daily download published by Cybus Industries," she offered, reading it off her phone.

The Professor's frown just deepened when the crowd burst out into laughter before shaking their heads and walking off as though it were all a perfectly normal occurrence. And that was the worst part, it meant they were comfortable with this, it meant it happened so much it wasn't anything they even thought about or noticed, and if it was that common…it meant they wouldn't even give pause to if something else worked its way into their heads.

"You humans," she murmured, "Like lambs lining up for the slaughter…"

Rose glanced around, not quite sure she could disagree to that, all the humans had stood still, hadn't even been aware of the world around them, and in that case…someone could have attacked them, dropped a bomb on them, and they wouldn't have reacted. This wasn't like with the Sycorax, they weren't hypnotized, they had physically been controlled in their own minds.

"Can I see that?" the Professor turned and held a hand out to Rose for the phone, taking it and running a quick search on it, "Cybus Industries," she found, "It's a company that owns nearly every other business in Britain," her eyes widened slightly, "Including Vitex."

"So…" Rose swallowed, not daring to hope but wanting to so badly, "We DO need to see my da…Pete, then?" she eyed the Professor, "Investigate him or something? Investigate Cybus?"

The Professor looked at her a moment, "We can't get too close," she warned Rose, who just beamed at her, "We'll be closer than before, but Rose, promise me you won't talk to him, it's important. You're too close to him to not let something slip. Promise me that, and yes…we'll go see Pete."

"Done," Rose nodded eagerly.

The Professor sighed, she had a hard time believe that Rose would be able to hold to a promise made that quickly, but they didn't have time. Something in her gut was telling her there was much more going on and after all her time and training, she'd learned to trust her gut more than anything.

~8~

The Doctor rubbed his face as he and Mickey came to stand before an old door in a rather dreary section of the neighborhood. He could only hope that this would go by quickly and they could get back to the TARDIS and the Professor sooner than later. He moved his hands behind his back as Mickey knocked on the door, the two of them waiting for the door to open.

"Who's that there?" the voice of an older woman called through the door, making the Doctor lift an eyebrow and glance at Mickey, but the boy was too focused on the door as it flew open to reveal a shorter, old woman with dark glasses on, "Who is it?" she frowned, gripping her cane, making the Doctor more aware that she was apparently blind, "I know you're there. Shame on you, tricking an old lady. I've got nothing worth stealing. And don't think I'm gonna disappear!" she lifted her cane in defense, "You're NOT gonna take ME."

The Doctor glanced between her and over at Mickey, torn between trying to see the resemblance in the woman's courage to Mickey's slightly lacking bravery and wanting him to speak up to get this over with as Mickey was just standing there, staring.

So he elbowed Mickey in the side to start him on.

"Um, hi," was Mickey's brilliant beginning.

The woman stopped swinging her cane though, staring out ahead of her in Mickey's general direction, "Is that you?" she whispered.

Mickey smiled, "It's me. I came home," he nodded.

The Doctor took a step back when the woman reached out for Mickey, touching his face, "Ricky?"

"It's Mickey," he corrected instantly, only for the Doctor to shoot him a look and mouth 'parallel' to him.

"I know my own grandson's name," she huffed, "It's Ricky. Now, come here!" she pulled him to her, hugging him tightly.

The Doctor couldn't help the small smile that began to settle on his face at the reunion. This…this part of humanity wasn't so bad, he was almost slightly less upset that the Professor had gone with Rose instead. This was easier for him to endure, a touching reunion for grandson and grandmother, than constantly trying to keep Rose back from her father. He had been hesitant to allow Mickey to do this as he wasn't sure if Mickey even existed in this world, but it appeared that he did, or a version of him did, so it wasn't too much to ask to let him have a moment or two with the woman before they had to leave.

"Ok," Mickey nearly sniffled, "I'm Ricky. Of course I am. Ricky, that's me," he winced when the woman shooed him back and started to smack him on the shoulder, startling the Doctor, "Ow!"

The Doctor blinked at the sudden turn, not sure if he should step in, knowing better than anyone what the damage of abuse could be, he'd seen it first hand with the Professor, but Mickey didn't seem to be hurt, more annoyed.

"You stupid boy!" she cried, hitting him once more, "Where've you been?"

"Ow! Stop hitting me!"

The woman listened after a few more smacks, "It's been days and days!" she huffed, "I keep hearing all these stories. People disappearing off the streets. There's nothing of it on the download," she tapped her ear, making the Doctor frown as he caught sight of an earpod firmly placed over them. He'd seen a few of them on the way over, it was…odd, how commonplace they were, "But there're all these rumors, and…and whispers. I thought that God had disappeared you!"

The Doctor pulled his gaze away from trying to silently examine the earpod when he heard a crack in Mickey's voice as he spoke again, "That carpet on the stairs, I told you to get it fixed," the Doctor glanced over at it, leaning to the side to get a better look at a tear that appeared to be on the corner of the stairs, "You're gonna…" he turned to Mickey, frowning, when the boy closed his eyes and swallowed hard, "Fall and break your neck."

The Doctor's eyes widened slightly at that, at the tone of Mickey's voice, the emotion in his words. It wasn't just someone speaking of a fear they didn't want to see come to fruition, but the sound of a man who had already seen it happen. He inhaled softly at that, a frown coming to his face as he observed Mickey more closely, understanding now. And a bit irate that Mickey hadn't told him that this woman too had died just as Pete had yet was somehow still alive. Rose would have no excuse not to at least see her not-dead father if HE had allowed Mickey to see his not-dead grandmother now.

"Well, you get it fixed for me," the woman lifted her chin.

"I shoulda done way back," Mickey's voice choked with emotion, "I guess I'm just kinda useless."

The Doctor closed his eyes at that, understanding even more. Mickey hadn't fixed the tear in their world…and his grandmother HAD fallen down the stairs and passed on. The boy had carried the guilt of that all these years and now he was presented with a woman that was still alive despite the tear, a woman that he could help extend the life of if he just fixed it now…

And all he could think of was every time he'd called Mickey an idiot in his last body, all the snide remarks or comments on his bravery or how he didn't measure up. He should have known better, he should have, the Professor had. She'd seen something in Mickey that had made her pause enough to try and see more in him, she'd understood there was something in him, some guilt, a measure of inadequacy that he felt. She had felt it too, she always had, thanks to her father. It was why she'd pushed herself so much in the Academy, she'd wanted to prove her worth, get the best marks, the highest scores, she just needed to feel validated that she wasn't worthless…just like Mickey had felt. And he hadn't helped any, had he?

"Now, I never said that," the woman disagreed, making the Doctor open his eyes, a new resolve filling him to not underestimate Mickey Smith, to not ever make the boy feel like he was useless or worthless, just as he should have done before.

"I am, though," Mickey sniffled, "And I'm sorry, gran. I'm so sorry."

The Doctor looked down at that, perhaps he should have gone with Rose instead. This new him…it appreciated humans, it saw them as amazing creatures, but…it was like there was something missing, some sort of piece of the puzzle that just wasn't there. And the more he thought about it, the more he realized what it was, the Professor. They didn't measure up to her, they weren't as impressive after so many centuries with them, not compared to her. They weren't as…important. They would always be important, always be a species he would try his best to save and keep safe, but…he didn't relate to them as much. If this had been the Professor, he would know exactly what to do or say to comfort her…humans were just…he couldn't connect the two anymore it seemed.

Luckily Mickey's grandmother did know what to do as she pulled Mickey into a tight hug once more, "Don't talk like that," she murmured to him, kissing the side of his head before pulling back, her hands on his shoulders, "Do you know what you need? A nice sit down and a cuppa tea. You got time?"

"I…" Mickey hesitated a moment, glancing at the Doctor for confirmation, the Time Lord seeming to debate it, before nodding, making Mickey smile, "For you, I've got all the time in the world."

The woman laughed, stepping back, "You say that, but it's all talk. It's those new friends of yours. I don't trust them."

Mickey frowned at that, "What friends are they?"

"Don't pretend you don't know. You've been seeing them. Mrs. Chan told me. Driving about all helter-skelter, in that van."

"What van's that, then?" he looked to the Doctor as though the man would have some sort of idea, but he seemed just as lost.

"You know full well! Don't play games with me. Get inside!"

No sooner had those words left her mouth did the Doctor feel himself being yanked back a single second after a loud screeching of tires sounded.

"I've been looking for you everywhere!" a young man with spiked blond hair cried, grabbing Mickey just after he'd shoved the Doctor into a dark blue van. He hopped in after them, slamming the door shut as the van took off, "Ricky, you were the one who told _us _you don't contact your family 'cos it puts them in danger!"

"Yeah," Mickey blinked, startled, "Ricky said that. Course I did, just testing?" he looked at the Doctor for help, but the man was more focused on the gun sitting just beside the boy that had captured them.

"I saw them. I taped them!" the boy wiggled a video camera in his hand, "They went round Black Friars gathering up the homeless like a child-catcher. They must've took four dozen."

"The vans were hired out to a company called 'International Electromatics," a voice added from the front, the driver, an older woman with equally blonde hair, "But I did a protocol search...turns out that's a dummy company established by guess who?"

"I dunno, who?" Mickey shrugged.

"Cybus Industries!" their captors shouted.

"And now we've got evidence!" the boy grinned.

But the driver sighed, "Bad news is, they've arrested Thin Jimmy. So that just leaves you."

It took Mickey a minute, and another nudge from the Doctor, to realize that the woman was talking to HIM, "Leaves me what?"

"The Number One!" the boy absolutely beamed, "Top of the list. London's Most Wanted!"

"Ok, cool," Mickey nodded, as he had been doing the entire time, trying to go along with it…till what had been said finally hit him, "Say that again?"

The Doctor just groaned and rubbed his head, hoping that this world's Mickey wasn't some crime boss.

"Who's he?" the boy leaned forwards to whisper-hiss at Mickey, as though the Doctor wasn't sitting right there and able to hear everything being said.

"Hello," he leaned in, holding out a hand to the man, "I'm the Doctor."

"Jake," the boy introduced almost automatically, "A doctor?" he glanced from Mickey, who shrugged, to the Doctor, before grinning and taking his hand, "Brilliant. We could do with someone with a little more learning, and after what I saw," he wiggled the camera again, "Sounds like we might need one."

The Doctor could only frown at that, not liking the sound of anything that would actually require a doctor to be around.

But he had little time to think on that for the van was pulling to another screeching halt, Jake hopping out the side instantly, only to stop short as Mickey and the Doctor moved to follow.

"There's a light on," Jake frowned, "There's someone inside the base. Mrs. Moore," he rapped on the driver's door as he passed it, speaking to the woman inside, "We've got visitors."

Mrs. Moore nodded, readying her gun as she quickly got out of the van and followed Jake towards an old nearly abandoned house. The Doctor and Mickey glanced at each other a moment before they followed the duo towards the house, along the side of the walls to the back door, pausing outside it.

"1," Jake began to count, "2…3…go!" he shouted, shoving the door open as he and Mrs. Moore burst in, their guns aimed…right at Mickey, another Mickey!

"What the hell are you doing?" the not-Mickey, so rather likely Ricky, glared at them.

Jake stared, "What're _you_ doing there?!" he startled, looking back and forth between Ricky and Mickey.

"What am I doing HERE?" Ricky scoffed, starting to stalk forwards, pointing at Mickey, "What am I doing THERE?!"

The Doctor let out a small huff when Mrs. Moore and Jack instantly turned their guns on them instead. The Professor really would have been better set to go with Mickey than him. But, then again, being with Rose right now meant that she wouldn't be facing down the barrel of a gun…

~8~

The Professor squinted through a small set of bushes that she and Rose were currently hiding behind, observing the house that belonged to Mr. Pete Tyler. Well, more like mansion really. Pete had done very well for himself in this universe it appeared. There was some sort of party going on, a stream of expensive cars were lining up outside the house while various men and women in tailored suits and gowns headed inside.

"This could work," the Professor murmured, "The more people, the easier it is to blend in."

"February the first," Rose remarked, "Mum's birthday. Even in a parallel universe, she still loves a party."

The Professor's eyes scanned over the crowd, spotting something nearer to the back and smiled, "And I've just the way to get in," she stood and started to make her way, leaving Rose to follow.

"What is it?" Rose called, hurrying after her, "What are we doing?"

~8~

"Servers," Rose sighed as she and the Professor made their way into the Tyler's sitting room, both dressed in a short black and white waitress uniform, a tray of nibbles and champagne balanced on their hands, "This wasn't exactly what I was hoping for."

"Sorry," the Professor shrugged, not sounding sorry at all, "Not the Doctor, no psychic paper, and besides," she smiled in memory of something, "Backdoor approach is always best," ooh the Doctor was fond of the backdoor approach and, at times, it DID work better than the front. But sometimes, like when you were actually expected and a guest, the front door was the better route...if only the Doctor actually_ listened_. She shook herself from a particular memory where the back vs. front door approach had been challenged, before nodding to another woman serving small salmon pinwheels across the room, "That woman, there, that's Lucy, if she's to be believed then that man," she gestured at a well dressed, older, black man, "Is the President of Great Britain."

Rose frowned at that, "Not a Prime Minister?"

"Parallel Rose," the Professor reminded her, "Hmm…" she hummed suddenly.

"What?" Rose glanced at her.

"Nothing, I just…have to ask the Doctor something."

"What?" Rose repeated.

"Well, when the Slitheen were about, the Doctor called Harriet Jones President, and then he kept calling Mickey Ricky, remember?" Rose nodded, the Professor gestured around, "President here," she added, "If there's another Mickey, and here he's called 'Ricky,' well…I have to ask if he's ever been here before."

Rose's eyes widened at that, she hadn't made that connection, but if she was about to say something more, it was lost when they heard Pete's voice calling for attention from another room.

"Excuse me!" they followed his voice and the throng of people, staying near the back, as they came to see him standing in the main foyer, in the middle of the stairs, "Thank you very much. Thank you, if I could just have your attention, please?"

"Pete!" someone shouted, "Go on, Pete!"

"Thank you very much!"

"It's about time you did some work. I thought you liked them young!"

Pete chuckled at that, "Um, I'd just like to say, er, thank you to you all, for coming on this er, this very special occasion. My wife's...39th," he gave them a wink and a thumbs up at that, silently telling them to go with it even as they laughed a bit at that, it seemed no one believed Mrs. Jackie Tyler was really 39, "Trust me on this," he smiled, "So, without any further ado, here she is. The birthday girl…my lovely wife, Jackie Tyler."

He gestured behind him and stepped away, revealing Jackie coming down the stairs, dressed to kill in an elegant, expensive black dress, her hair done up to perfection.

Jackie smiled serenely at her guests, "Now, I'm not giving a speech, that's what my parties are famous for, no work, no politics, just a few good mates and plenty of black-market whisky," she chuckled, giving a small joking look at the President, "Pardon me, Mr. President!" she smiled when he gave her a grin first, "So, yeah! Get on with it, enjoy, enjoy."

With Jackie shooing the crowd on, they all dispersed through the house once more, leaving the Professor and Rose to watch them go, though Rose's attention was more on Pete as he helped Jackie down the rest of the stairs to speak to their guests.

"Rose," the Professor's voice cut through her thoughts, making the girl look at her, "You can't," she shook her head, her tone taking on a warning note, "Remember, here you don't exist, they don't know you and, I'm sorry to say this, but they clearly didn't want children here. Even if you tell them, they won't be receptive of you."

"I know," Rose swallowed hard, "I get it, it's…it's not MY mum and dad, and…and I don't…I don't need them. I've still got my mum at home, my real mum. I couldn't just leave her, could I?"

"No," the Professor agreed, watching Rose closely, not sure she entirely believed that Rose had come to this sudden epiphany or if she was just saying it for show.

"It's just..." Rose sighed, nodding at the couple, "They've got each other. Mum's got no one."

"Well she did have you," the Professor stated blandly, "Till you decided to travel with us."

"That's not fair," Rose frowned at her.

"I only mean that children leave the nest," the Professor explained, not having meant it as an insult, "There are times in our lives Rose, where we're alone, truly alone, and we have to make do."

"I find that hard to believe," Rose remarked, "You and the Doctor have been together since you were kids, right? You're his best friend and now you're his Bonded."

"His friend before he married my cousin," she reminded Rose, "His Bonded after they separated, and I wasn't his companion till he stopped by Earth and dealt with the Nestenes," she added, "There were quite a few centuries where I was alone on Gallifrey, or at least without him. We all have to be alone at some time to understand who we are as a person, as an individual, before we know who we are around others."

Rose nodded slowly at that, that was actually…really smart, and reassuring, something she shouldn't be surprised by considering who she was talking to. You didn't get a title like 'The Professor' without being smart.

Before Rose could tell her so though, she nearly jumped when Jackie called out, "Rose!" the two of them turning to see the woman hurrying to the stairs, "Rose, come to mummy!" and then stared as a small little Yorkie trotted down the stairs towards her, "There's my little girl! Come to mummy, come to mummy! Yes, good girl!" she scooped her up and began to pet the pooch, "Good girl, aren't you?"

The Professor did try, she really did, not to laugh at the look of shocked horror on Rose's face as her mother cooed at a puppy that shared her namesake, but a snort did escape her, earning her a glare from Rose.

"Just…of all the creatures that could share your name, Rose, that puppy," she nodded at the Yorkie, "Is a lot nicer than having a Vanticore named after you."

Rose gave her an odd look for that but the Professor just turned, offering her tray of nibbles to a guest.

~8~

The Doctor rolled his eye as he stood beside Mickey, his arms stretched out wide, his legs apart, Mickey mirroring his stance as Jake and Ricky scanned them with a small device attached to Mrs. Moore's laptop, the woman sitting at a small desk and running a program while they worked. They had tried to attack him and Mickey before but, being around the Professor so long, he had learned to have quick reflexes and gotten his sonic out, letting it emit a high note that caused the humans to wince and back away, giving him time to stride past them into the room. They'd wanted to strip them down as well, 'scanning for bugs' they'd said, remarked that the clothing could hide them or block the signal to the scanners. So he'd soniced the scanners to be more powerful. The last thing he wanted to see was Mickey in his skivvies.

Now, the Professor on the other hand…

He started to smile at the thought, before shaking his head, if she'd been there, she'd be blushing a lovely shade of red right then. He didn't want to waste that moment thinking that without being able to see her reaction. And, he supposed, he really should be paying more attention to what was going on.

"He's clean," Jake announced, stepping away from the Doctor, "No bugs."

Ricky looked at him and back to Mickey, who he was scanning, "Him neither," he muttered, narrowing his eyes at Mickey as the men lowered their arms, the Doctor's moving behind his back, "But this is off the scale. He's flesh and blood," he shook his head at Mickey, eyeing him, "How did that happen?"

"Well, it could be that Cybus Industries have perfected the science of human cloning," Mrs. Moore answered, a note of sarcasm in her tone, "Or your father had a bike?"

The Doctor shook his head, if the Professor had been there, she'd have rattled off at least 10 other reasons for why there were two Mickeys, she was brilliant like that. He probably could as well, but it was far more amusing to watch Ricky menacingly circling Mickey and making the boy shift and jump.

"Your name is Mickey, not Ricky?"

"Mickey," he gave a jerking nod, glancing at the Doctor in nerves, only to see he likely wasn't going to be any help, "Dad was Jackson Smith. Used to work at the key cutters in Cliffton's Parade. Went to Spain, never came back…"

"And that's enough of that," the Doctor cut in, giving Mickey a firm look that he was revealing too much, even to a person that was clearly himself.

"That's MY dad," Ricky muttered, "So...we're brothers?"

"Be fair," Jake scoffed, "What else could it be?"

"I don't know. But he doesn't just look like me, he is _exactly_ the same. There's something else going on here, Jake."

"And what exactly do you think that would be?" the Doctor inquired, stepping closer to Mickey to face down Ricky, "You keep mentioning a Cybus Industries," he added, "You're fixated on them, so, tell, who are they and what have you got against them? No," he held up his hand as Jake opened his mouth, "Hold on, I can guess well enough what that might be," and he could, he'd seen the earpods in Rita's ears, saw the small logo on it, he could take a not-so-wild guess as to what the industry was, technology, but what did this group have against that? And Jake's reaction before, how he'd claimed that no one could go back to their families for safety reasons, it meant there was someone after them, likely Cybus, so it really wasn't prudent to ask about Cybus but instead… "So who are YOU?"

"We," Ricky grinned, opening his arms in pride, "We are the Preachers. As in Gospel Truth. You see?" he pointed to his ears, ears distinctly lacking a flashing pod, "No ear plugs. While the rest of the world downloads from Cybus Industries, we…WE have got freedom. You're talking to London's Most Wanted. But target Number One is Lumic, and we ARE going to bring him down."

"From your kitchen?" Mickey gave him an incredulous look that had Jake smirking.

Ricky narrowed his eyes at that, "Have you got a problem with that?"

"I've saved the world from worse places," the Doctor shrugged, "And speaking of the world, we need to be going," he had to get back to the Professor, he had this…pit forming in his stomach that whatever the humans were investigating, whatever this Cybus was doing, it wouldn't be good. Trouble would happen soon and he wanted to be closer to her than farther away in case it really DID happen.

"Hold on doctor-man," Ricky held up a hand, getting in his path, "You two aren't going anywhere…" he let out a huff when a beeping behind him interrupted what was likely to be an empowered moment for him.

"Sorry," Mrs. Moore winced, "It's an upload from Gemini though."

Ricky's prior irritation was forgotten in a moment, the boy spinning around to join Mrs. Moore at the laptop to see what it was.

"I take it you don't mean the twins?" the Doctor asked dryly, thinking about the constellation.

The trio of Preachers ignored him though, Mrs. Moore explaining the transmission to Ricky, "The vans are back. They're moving out of Battersea. Looks like Gemini was right. Lumic's finally making a move."

"And we are right behind him," Ricky determined, "Pack up, we're leaving," he ordered his two comrades, "And you," he looked at the Doctor and Mickey, "You're coming with us."

The Doctor's jaw tensed at that, not too pleased with it, but…curious as well, to just what this Gemini was telling them and what this Lumic was doing that was causing a small rebellion.

~8~

The Professor moved down a hall of the Tyler mansion, heading from one room to another…when she stopped in the middle of the corridor, a slight pitch ringing in the air. She frowned and looked over, seeing a door that was open a crack and pushed it open to reveal a laptop sitting inside, open and powered up, the thing that was emitting the small noise. She squinted slightly at it before glancing over her shoulder at the party goers, making sure no one was looking her way or watching before she slipped into the room and headed over to the laptop. As parallel as the world was, she couldn't quite imagine it being SO different that Jackie Tyler actually knew how to operate a laptop or would want to own one, which meant it had to be Pete's, and if it was…perhaps she could hack in and see if there was anything about this Cybus company in there.

~8~

The Doctor let out a light breath as he stood beside Ricky and Jake as the two men squatted down in the bushes surrounding a small mansion, watching as a lorry pulled up and began unloading. The boys were trying to be surreptitious, to not be noticed, but really, it was pitch black, there were no lights near them, and everyone was preoccupied with the party clearly going on inside the mansion, they would hardly be noticed standing there so he refused to crouch down. He also wasn't much a fan of the guns the two men insisted on carrying there and had thought it best to go with them than sit in the van with Mrs. Moore and Mickey. Knowing how rash humans could be, he didn't want to risk leaving the two alone and have them accidently shoot someone or hold up the mansion hostage.

"I don't know what they're doing," Ricky reported into a small comm., "But they seem to be the target. Big house, fair bit of money...now we've got to find a way to get in."

"I've identified the address," Mrs. Moore replied, "It belongs to Peter Tyler. The Vitex millionaire."

The Doctor's eyes widened at that, "Peter Tyler?" he needed to hear it again, because chances were, if that really WAS Pete's home…then the Professor and Rose would be nearby as well. He hoped they weren't actually IN the mansion, but he wouldn't put it past Rose to go off on her own and sneak in and force the Professor to go after her.

Mrs. Moore hummed in confirmation, "He's listed as one of Lumic's henchmen. A traitor to the state."

"But...but...we've gotta get in there!"

The Doctor wasn't sure whether to feel comforted that Mickey was as on edge about finding out what their location was or feel even more on edge.

"Now, shut it, duplicate!" Ricky snapped, "That's what I just said…" he fell quiet as the sound of something heavy stomping echoed over to them, drawing their attention back to the lorry where the noise was coming from, "What're they doing..."

The Doctor's hearts stopped as he saw the origin of the noise, metal men were walking out of the lorry.

No, not metal men.

CYBERmen!

"What the hell are they?" Ricky breathed.

"Get back!" the Doctor snapped suddenly, reaching down to half-haul Ricky and Jake to their feet, "The Van, get to the van!" he pushed them on, his mind set on one realization…

The Cybers were heading for the mansion, the Professor was likely in there, his sonic would be useless…he was going to need a weapon.

~8~

The Professor's face was drawn into a frown as she watched a presentation playing on the laptop, a weakened, wheezing voice narrating some sort of project as it went.

"The most precious thing on this Earth is the human brain," it said, "This is the ultimate upgrade. Our greatest step into cyberspace."

The Professor nearly stepped back in shock as she saw what the presentation was about. The images that had been shifting across the screen zoomed out to reveal a suit of metal, an animation of a human brain being placed into it, and gaped in horror at the metal man before her.

"Cybermen," she breathed, shaking her head as one of the enemies of the Time Lords stared back at her, but this time…completely of human make.

She turned and quickly ran out of the room, half pushing herself through the crowds, not caring about being rude, needing to find Rose and get her out of there. They had to find the Doctor and stop Cybus from going through with their program!

"Rose!" she called as she spotted the girl staring out the window near the front of the house. She moved over to her side, glancing out to see what had gotten Rose so fixated…only to see something she had hoped never to see again, the Cybermen were marching towards the house, "Not again…"

"What?" Rose looked at her, startled.

"Cybermen, we need to get out of here, now," she insisted, grabbing Rose's arm and starting to pull her back, away from the window, trying to find another way out because, likely, the Cybers would start to surround them in the front and back entrances first and they'd need a new way out. She was just about to rush for the door that seemed to lead to the basement, hoping there might be a small outer entrance to it on the side of the house as was typical with the larger houses. She doubted that Jackie would have wanted anything dirty that usually was stored in a cellar to be dragged through her pristine home, she'd want another entrance there and it would be less targeted by the Cybers at the moment.

"Cyber what?" Rose shook her head, not understanding though she didn't fight the Professor's pulls.

"Cybermen," the Professor repeated, "They're…"

But whatever she was about to say was cut off by the sound of smashing walls and shattering glass as the Cybers reached the house and forced their way inside through the windows and doors, causing the crowd to scream and jump back.

"No," the Professor spun around, feeling her hearts starting to race as she saw the metal men even closer, she could feel her mind starting to slow, her body tensing as they found themselves surrounded by aliens.

No, no they weren't aliens, THESE Cybers were of human make but her mind couldn't seem to comprehend that, just seeing them for what they looked like. And that was aliens. And she really wasn't doing well around them even now. This shouldn't be happening! She should be better! She'd faced DALEKS for god's sake! She'd faced them and come out fine and now the Cybermen were causing her to freeze?

She blamed the Krillitanes, seeing them again, it had just brought everything back, as much as she tried to push it away it was coming back again, the fear that gripped her around other aliens.

Even worse…she knew the Cybers were far from benign.

"Mr. Lumic!"

The Professor's gaze snapped over to the President as he tapped his earpod, glaring at the metal men that had corralled everyone into the same room. She swallowed had and, almost against her will, her body began to move her and Rose as far back into the crowd and away from the Cybers as they could get. She needed the distance, she needed to not be a direct target, to be that close to them, she needed to get herself together!

"Mr. President," Lumic, the same voice that had played over the presentation on the laptop, spoke, "I suppose a remark about crashing the party would be appropriate at this point."

"I forbade this!" the President snapped, cutting into Lumic's dark chuckles.

"These are my children, sir. Would you deny my family?"

"What's he talking about children?" Rose glanced at the Professor, "They're robots, aren't they?"

"CyberMEN, Rose," the Professor murmured, "All of them, they've got a real human brain stuck inside them. Some of them probably have more than just that."

"Who were these people?" the President demanded, confirming the Professor's words.

But Lumic brushed it off, "Doesn't matter."

"Oh my god, they're people?" Rose gaped, disgusted.

"Not anymore," the Professor replied grimly, "Right now they're little more than robots. Metal skin, steel hearts, inhibited emotions."

"What?" Rose turned to her, "They…they can't feel?" she guessed.

"No. And they're lucky for it."

"How is that lucky?" Rose was disturbed by that thought, that being unfeeling was a good thing.

"Because it hurts," the Professor told her, "There are things in life Rose, that hurt so terribly you'd rather not feel a damn thing than suffer through it, that," she nodded at the Cybers, "Is one of them."

And as terrible as it was to say, this was good, not the Cybers or what happened to them, but that she was talking about it. If she could tell Rose what they were, if she could focus enough to be able to talk about them, then maybe she could focus enough to talk TO them or stop them or just…do something more than stand there like a coward.

She was the Professor, the Time Lord's living weapon, one of the greatest soldiers the Sontarans knew of, the boogymen of numerous planets, a destroyer of worlds and taker of lives…she should be able to handle this…but even so, she still remained frozen, staring at the Cybers with wide eyes.

"I demand to know, Lumic, these people, who were they?!" the President wouldn't let Lumic get away with making this less than what it was, murder.

"They were homeless, wretched and useless until I saved them," Lumic announced, "And elevated them. And gave them life-eternal. And now, I leave you in their capable hands. Goodnight, sir. Goodnight, Mr. President," the sneer in Lumic's voice echoed around the room as he ended the transmission.

One Cyber stepped up, moving in front of the President to address the scared humans, "We have been upgraded. Upgraded into the next level of mankind. We are Human-Point-2. Every citizen will receive a free upgrade. You will become like us."

The President looked it square in its small black eyes, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for what's been done to you," the Professor flinched as the man turned his back on the Cyber, a dangerous move, "But listen to me, this experiment ends. Tonight."

"Upgrading is compulsory," the Cyber argued, causing the man to turn back around.

"And if I refuse?"

"Don't," the Professor called, her voice cracking.

But the man ignored her, "What if I refuse?"

"Really, DON'T," she insisted.

And still she was ignored, "What happens if I refuse?"

"Then you are not compatible," the Cyber stated.

"What happens then?"

"You will be deleted."

The Professor reacted quickly, grabbing Rose and turning her around so she wouldn't be facing the man when the Cyber lifted his hand and grabbed the President by the neck, electrocuting him. The second the crowd started to scream, she half-shoved Rose out the nearest broken window, knowing that the Cybers would be more focused on the humans running around inside the house than outside, knowing they'd target the ones that were closer to them than she and Rose had been.

"We need to go…" she tried to pull Rose on, in a direction that seemed Cyber-free for the moment, but Rose yanked her hand out of the Professor's hold.

"My mum's in there!"

"She's not YOUR mother!" the Professor grabbed Rose's arm tightly, "Now come ON! Unless you want me to explain to your actual mother how you're DEAD when we finally get out of here!?"

THAT seemed to snap Rose out of it, the reminder of her real mother, and allowed the Professor the chance to yank Rose in another direction, rushing to a corner of the house before she paused. She put a finger to her lips and closed her eyes, listening…she could hear stomping of metal feet up a small slope nearby…but none around the side of the house, so that was where they headed, rushing right past Pete as he jumped out a broken window too.

"Quick!" Rose called to him, gesturing him to follow, "Quick!"

They got to the front of the house only to find the gates were locked, so the Professor spun to face him, "We need another way out, give me one!"

"The side gates!" Pete pointed, taking the lead towards them, "Who are you? How do you know so much?"

"Not the time!" the Professor snapped, only to stop suddenly. They'd run too far and out into too much open. A line of Cybers that were a small distance away, heading in a different direction, stopped and turned to face them. But then two headlights turned on and three figures were running towards them, what looked like guns in their hands.

"Who's that?!" Rose squinted against the light.

And Ricky appeared, shouting, "Get behind me!" as he and Jake dropped to their knees and began to fire at the Cybermen the second the trio was behind them.

"Doctor!" the Professor gasped as she spotted the Doctor with a small handgun, "Give it here!" she shouted holding up her hand for it.

The Doctor tossed her the gun and she turned, taking careful aim, striking a Cyber right through the eye-hole, causing the others to stop as the one she'd hit fell backwards, completely downed.

"Oh my God," Rose turned to Ricky, starting to hug him, "Look at you...I thought I'd never see you again!"

"Wrong Mickey, Rose," the Professor called, keeping her eyes trained on the Cybers, the Doctor moving beside her, placing a hand to the small of her back.

'_Though I am happy to see you,_' she murmured in his mind, '_There IS something in my pocket that will help,_' she murmured to him in his mind, allowing his hand to trail down her hip and towards her pocket, keeping her body angled so the Cybers wouldn't see.

"What?" Rose looked between her and Ricky, "But…"

"Different posture and body language," the Professor said quickly, "And do you think Mickey knows how to even hold a gun?"

Rose blinked at that and looked at Ricky, as though just noticing he really was holding a gun.

"Yeah," Ricky nodded, "No offence, sweetheart, but who the hell are you?"

"Rose!" another voice that sounded more like Mickey to the Professor shouted as he ran down the lawn.

"I know," the Doctor murmured, leaning in to pres a small kiss to the Professor's temple, wanting so badly to hug her more, hold her tighter, revel in being back with her in the middle of such disaster, this wasn't the time, but he needed her to know how relieved he was, "As if this wasn't enough of a mess, we have TWO Mickeys to deal with now."

The Professor smiled a bit at that, "You know you're secretly fond of him."

"It's Ricky!" Ricky huffed, hearing the Doctor refer to him as 'Mickey.'

"How many Cybers?" the Professor asked the Doctor, growing more serious.

"Too many," was the grim reply.

"We're surrounded," Rose whispered.

"Don't lift that gun," the Professor called, catching sight of Ricky moving to lift his out of the corner of her eye, "Trust me, I've got this covered, they know I'm the better shot, any other fire will just annoy them."

"Oi!" the Doctor snapped, grabbing Jake's gun and shoving it down as the boy fired anyway, "LISTEN to her!" he gave Jake a glare before looking to the Professor, "Plan?"

"Always," she smiled, "You've a thing?"

"Somewhat," he nearly chuckled, would have if the humans around them weren't so tense and on edge, "We surrender?" he offered.

The Professor was silent a moment, "Could work," she murmured, though she hesitated to put her gun down. She knew it would be useless to say that to actual Cybermen, but…if these were human made, from Earth, then…maybe they might react differently?

Well there was only one way to find out, so she gave the Doctor a small nod.

He returned it and looked to the others, "Hands up," he ordered, putting his up as the Professor lifted her own, slipping the gun into his bigger-on-the-inside pockets incase she needed to grab it quickly, "You have no reason to damage us," the Doctor spoke to the Cybers, "We are in good condition for your upgrade program. We wish to be processed."

"You are rogue elements," one of the Cybers stepped up.

'_Should have phrased that differently,_' the Professor remarked in his mind.

'_YOU were the one in Intergalactic Relations,_' he reminded her, '_You should have talked to them, but you were holding a gun on them. Thought I should try my hand first._'

The Professor nodded, understanding what he was saying without him saying it, he had talked to them because she was NOT ready to do so, she wasn't in the right frame of mind, and…her hand had been shaking while she held the gun, it was too much for her to deal with right now. And this him was far more an eloquent speaker when he wanted to be.

'_Thank you._'

"But we surrendered!" Rose shouted, pulling their attention back to the danger at hand.

"You are incompatible," the Cyber disagreed, the Doctor tensing and slowly lowering his hand to his other pocket, "You are inferior. Man will be reborn as Cybermen but you will perish under maximum deletion!" it raised its hand, the other Cybers following suit, starting to march towards them once more, "Delete. Delete. Delete!"

To be continued…

A/N: You have no idea how much I cringed when Rose laughed while talking about how Rita used to slap Mickey :( It wasn't funny to me at all, I believe there are other ways to discipline a child than to hit them or cause them physical pain so to hear Rose actually laughing? That was another reason I'm not a big fan of her :( It was also one reason why I wanted the Professor to go with her instead of the Doctor, not just to change it up, but to get the reaction of someone who had actually been severely abused as a child encounter someone that's laughing about it. And also to give the Doctor a deeper understanding of Mickey too, to realize just how much his own comments of Mickey being an Idiot likely hurt him deep down and get a new respect for the boy :)

I also just want to say thank you to all of you for your understanding about the lateness of continuing this series. My father is on the road of being declared Cancer Free and is recovering well and it really means a lot to me the support I received from readers and the understanding of the pauses I had to take in posting all my stories. I hope to be able to resume the stories and keep them going with no interruptions from here on out :)

There are three small announcements I need to make regarding this story and future ones though.

**For this story,** I'm going to attempt something, a surprise of sorts, I can't say what just yet but one of the consequences of it will mean that this story will be updated every other Saturday instead of every Saturday, at least for this year :( I'm really sorry to do it, but I hope that the little surprise I'm working on will make up for that. We'll have to wait till next Saturday though to see what the surprise is, I hope that it'll equal out having to put this on an every other status for a little while ;)

**For future stories,** I have, unfortunately, been forced to revise my stories for 2015 :( The new schedule of what will be updated/posted in 2015 and when is on my tumblr. I'll still be updating Angel, then Mac, then the Judge after this, but the new TLs have been moved to 2016 and 2017 :( Still, we'll at least get the current TLs updated through the current series :)

And finally **for the WWTW2 crossover**, I originally planned to post it today, but there was so much to prepare and get posted that it took longer than I thought :( I debated posting it tomorrow but I was thinking I may be more inclined to post it on the 26th. My reason is that my next Crossover story (the one that was originally meant to be April 13th) is going to be a Piper/Angel/Marayna crossover and it will be posted the day after I finish my OUAT story for Piper, so is July 26th. I feel it might be a nice parallel to make the WWTW2 story June 26th to echo that :) In a small way it was almost a good thing that my pause in writing happened during my 3-year anniversary for posting fanfiction, it was originally going to be just Angel and Marayna, but then the OUAT finale happened and it was like an epiphany moment and I'm actually a lot happier with the addition of Piper to the story than the original lol :) So WWTW2 will likely be up the 26th so only a few more days ;)

Some notes on reviews...

I'm glad you're giving this AU Doctor a chance ;) I have a lot planned for him :)

Lol, that's happened before where a few people haven't realized I'd written a story they were reading till down the road :) I'm actually a little glad about that, I really try to match the writing style and thought process of an OC to the show or movie it relates to so it makes me feel like I've done a good job making the stories different in that regard :)

I think I've answered the Time Child thought on both Tumblr and as a PM so I hope it's ok if I don't answer here ;)

That's cool, 12 took me a while to get into also and I sort of had to find some way to like and connect to him to write the stories ;)


	3. Age of Steel

Age of Steel

"Now!" the Professor shouted.

The Doctor quickly pointed his arm at the Cybers, a string of golden energy shooting out of his hand and striking one in the head, bouncing off of them and targeting the other metal men, causing them to disintegrate before their very eyes.

"What the hell was that?!" Ricky turned to them, his eyes wide.

The Doctor just tossed the small power cell he'd taken off of the Professor and stuck it in his pocket.

"No time!" the Professor grabbed the Doctor's hand, "The attack will trigger a response to close in to the other Cybers. We need to run!"

They did just that, turning and bolting back towards the house, to the main gates just as Mrs. Moore pulled up in her van, honking the horn to get their attention, "Everybody in!"

"No!" the Professor reached out and grabbed Pete's arm as he turned to try and get back into the house, "You can't."

"I've gotta go back, my wife's in there!" Pete tried to pull away but she had a rather tight grip for such a small girl.

"Anyone left inside that house is dead," she told him bluntly, "I'm sorry but you go in there all you're doing is killing yourself too and then who will be around to avenge her?"

Pete still hesitated, "Listen, we don't have time," the Doctor grabbed his shoulder and yanked him forward, pushing him to the van, "We need to go!"

"Come on, get a move on!" Mrs. Moore shouted.

"Rose!" the Doctor snapped, seeing the blonde just staring at the house in shock, "Move. Now!"

Rose jumped at his shout but ran after them.

"She's not your mother, Rose," the Professor reminded her as they clambered into the van.

"I know," Rose nodded.

"Finished chatting?!" Mrs. Moore huffed, putting the car in gear, "Never seen a slower getaway in my life!" before jamming on the gas and taking off as the Cybermen did just as the Professor had predicted and converged at the area the last attack had happened.

"What was that thing?" Ricky demanded from the front, crammed in there with Jake and Mrs. Moore, looking back at the small group of travelers and Pete sitting there, catching their breath.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with," the Doctor replied, giving him a firm look, his hand gripping the Professor's hand as she sat rigidly beside him, her eyes closed, breathing deeply and trying to calm down, not from the run but from the confrontation with the Cybers.

It was bringing up bad memories for the both of them. While she had never traveled with him, never encountered the Cybers off Gallifrey, she HAD had experience with them before, on her own. She'd destroyed the lot of them at one point, and then refused to share her method with the High Council when they demanded it to weaponize other Time Lords against the Cybers. It had been a very difficult time for all of them.

"It'll need a recharge now," the Professor gasped, her eyes still closed, "Used up the power it saved for the trip back…"

"How long do you figure?" the Doctor squeezed her hand.

"Four more hours?" she guessed, finally opening her eyes and looking at him to see him staring at her in concern. She smiled slightly at him, a tense smile but a smile at least.

"Right," Ricky muttered, "So, we don't have a weapon anymore."

"Yeah, we've got weapons," Jake countered, "Might not be one of those metal things, but they're good enough for men like him…" he nearly sneered at Pete who looked alarmed by the reaction.

"Leave him alone!" Rose instantly defended, "What's he done wrong?"

"Oh, you know," Jake rolled his eyes, "Just laid a trap that's wiped out the Government. And left Lumic in charge."

Pete gave him an exasperated look, "If I was part of all that, do you think I'd leave my wife inside?"

"Maybe your plan went wrong," Ricky defended his friend's accusations, "Still gives us the right to execute you, though."

"Any more talk about executions," the Professor gave them a firm, slightly frightening look, "And you'll make ME your enemy, and, by extension, him," she nodded at the Doctor, "And there aren't any worse people you want against you than us."

"All the same..." Ricky shook his head, "We have evidence that says Pete Tyler's been working for Lumic since 20.5."

"Is that true?" Rose breathed, staring at her 'father' in horror that he could be a traitor to the country as the men were implying.

"Parallel, not exact," the Doctor remarked to Rose unflinchingly, reminding her that just because it was similar didn't mean it was exactly the same, for all they knew THIS Pete COULD be a traitor.

"Tell 'em, Mrs. M!" Ricky called.

Mrs. Moore began to speak without looking back, "We've got a government mole who feeds us information. Lumic's private files, his South American operations, the lot. Secret broadcasts twice a week…"

"Broadcast from Gemini?" Pete cut in.

Ricky's eyes narrowed at that, "And how do _you_ know that?"

Pete huffed, "_I'm_ Gemini. That's ME."

"Yeah, well you _would_ say that."

"Encrypted wavelength 657 using binary nine," the man stated, proving to even those there who didn't know what was going on that the man was their secret contact just by how Ricky and Jake looked at each other at that, "That's the _only _reason I was working for Lumic. To get information. I thought I was broadcasting to the Security Services, and what do I get?" he scoffed, gesturing around, "Scooby Doo and his gang. They've even got the van!"

Mickey's face scrunched in confusion, "No, no, no! But the Preachers know what they're doing. Ricky said he's London's Most Wanted!"

"Yeah…" Ricky began slowly, "That's not exactly..."

"Not exactly what?"

"I'm London's Most Wanted for...parking tickets," Ricky admitted quietly.

"Great," Pete muttered.

Ricky was instantly on the defense, "They were deliberate! I was fighting the system! Park anywhere, that's me."

"I subscribe to that policy as well," the Doctor remarked, shifting closer to the Professor as he wound his arm around her waist, letting her lean on him, able to feel her shaking against him at how close they'd come to the Cybers before, "I am the Doctor, and this is the Professor…"

"Pleasure," the Professor murmured, closing her eyes as she rested her head on the Doctor's shoulder, whacking him lightly when she saw his thoughts turning to another meaning of the word that had her fighting a blush.

"And I'm Rose," Rose added, "Hello!"

"Even better," Pete rubbed his face at how ridiculous this was all getting, "That's the name of my dog. Still at least I've got the catering staff on my side."

"I knew you weren't a traitor," Rose told him, offering a smile.

"Why's that, then?" Pete asked, though he didn't sound particularly interested in the answer.

"I just…did?" she offered, not knowing what to say, she had done as the Professor asked, not talked to Pete even when he'd tried to start a conversation, had kept away from her mother as hard as it had been, so she couldn't really give him a logical answer for why she 'knew.'

"They took my wife," Pete closed his eyes at that fact.

"She might still be alive," Rose tried to give him some hope.

"Don't hope for that," the Professor shook her head, "Really, don't," her face scrunched, "It's worse for the live ones."

"That's what Lumic does," Pete agreed, not even bothering to ask how she knew that anymore, assuming she was another spy on Lumic, "He takes the living...and he turns them into those machines."

"Cybermen," the Time Lords corrected, earning the attention of everyone else, "They're called Cybermen. And if I were you and if I were wise, I would take those earpods off, quickly."

The Professor nodded, forcing herself to open her eyes and confront this reality as Pete took his pods out, "Lumic could be listening," she agreed.

The Doctor reached out to take them from Pete, about to flash them with his sonic when he realized that it was now missing…and in the Professor's hand as she pickpocketed him to use the sonic herself. He smiled, pressing a kiss to her temple before murmuring, "He's clearly overreached himself. A businessman who assassinates the President?" he shook his head, "If we can get to the city and inform the proper authorities it'll all be taken care of."

"I hope it is that easy," the Professor breathed, though by the tone of her voice she didn't think it would be at all.

"Whatever happens," the Doctor lifted her chin to look at her, "I promise you, the Cybers will not survive tonight."

~8~

"I knew it wouldn't be that easy," the Professor mumbled as the small group walked along the streets, having had to pull over when they came to a mass of people marching down the road, blocking the way. They weren't quite marching really, but they were all heading in the same direction, all moving at the same pace, all with the exact same vacant look in their eyes, their earpods blinking rapidly as they went.

"What the hell..." Jake shook his head at them, waving his hand in front of one face only to get no reaction.

"What's going on?" Rose looked at the Time Lords.

"It appears Lumic's taken control of them by their earpods," the Doctor remarked, about to scan one with the sonic when the Professor reached out and stopped him.

"I told you Rose, it's leaving their minds wide open, and Lumic's got in," she sighed.

"Well…isn't there some way to take them off?" Rose turned to one.

"Go ahead and try," the Doctor shrugged when Rose reached for a pod, "If you want to kill them, that is."

"What?!" Rose spun to him.

"You pull something out that's affecting the brain, broadcasting into it, and it'll cause a brainstorm," he huffed, looking around, his hands behind his back, "Human Race, you're far too susceptible for such an intelligent race. Makes sense how you've fallen for such abysmal tactics of submission in the past…"

"We're not in Germany, Doctor," the Professor reminded him gently, "And there are some, to this day, that will defend Hitler to their dying breath…"

He let out a breath through his nose, almost a snort but not quite, "Hitler, Voldemort…"

"That last one isn't real."

"Still, same generic strategy, same genocidal aims…" he shook his head, "And the humans just go along with it, like sheep."

"Not always," the Professor countered, "They won't always, you know that, eventually they'll reach a point of evolution to not do that, to be more independent, we just have to give it time."

The Doctor looked at her with a gentle emotion in his eyes, "Look at you, ever the optimist."

She smiled sadly, "Not anymore," she took a deep breath, "But I hope for the humans."

"Hey!" Jake called, pulling their attention over, having moved ahead of them to a corner, gesturing them closer, "Come and see."

They carefully made their way around the people, to the corner and glanced around to see a row of Cybermen were marching down the street, the people still just wandering beside them, unnoticing.

"Where are they all going?" Rose frowned, squinting as though trying to find some direction they were headed.

"Don't know," the Doctor answered.

"I would guess Lumic's base of operation," the Professor supplied.

"Battersea," Pete stated, "That's where he was building his prototypes."

"Why's he doing it?" Rose inquired, turning to her 'father.'

"He's dying," Pete shrugged, "This all started out as a way of life by keeping the brain alive. At any cost."

Rose hesitated a moment, glancing back at the Time Lords before stepping closer to them, trying to speak quieter, "The thing is, I've _seen_ Cybermen before, haven't I? That head, those handle shapes in Van Statten's museum…"

"Yes," the Professor nodded, "There ARE Cybers in your universe."

"They started out just like this, an ordinary planet," the Doctor sighed, "And then they swarmed, across the galaxy."

"But…if this world is parallel, not exact, maybe they'll be good here?" Rose looked hopeful.

"They're already taking control of people to convert to metal men without their consent," the Doctor shook his head, "Perhaps THIS is this universes' way of paralleling, that they're starting right here on earth."

"Whatever the case is, we have to stop them," the Professor agreed.

"What the hell are you lot on about?" Pete shook his head at them, having heard them speaking.

"Never mind that," Ricky hissed, "Come on, we need to get out of the City," he turned to lead them back towards the van, ready to take the back roads out, to regroup, but there was a line of Cybers marching towards them up the street, "Ok," he determined, "Split up, Mrs. Moore, you look after _that _bloke," he shot at glare at Pete, "Jake, distract them, go right, I'll go left, we'll meet back at Bridge Street. Move!"

He ran off before the Time Lords could even offer advice for a better strategy, Jake with him.

"I'm going with him," Mickey told them, giving Rose a quick kiss before bolting after Ricky, leaving them unable to call after him without alerting the Cybers to their location.

"Come on, let's go," Mrs. Moore whispered, glancing around before leading them to an alleyway that seemed empty, the group coming out the other side, just to see more Cybers.

"Back!" the Professor tugged the woman back, "Hide, over here!" she led them towards a small line of rubbish bins and piles of garbage around them.

They ducked down behind it, the Doctor and Professor huddled together, the Doctor with his arms around her as she closed her eyes, trying to will the fear that was rising at the Cybers getting closer down, murmuring soothing things in her mind as he rubbed her arm. Rose clutched Pete's hand as Mrs. Moore hugging a small bag with her laptop in it to her chest as they waited.

The Doctor glanced up, able to see the shadows of the Cybers on the wall, hesitating by the bins, and pulled his sonic out of his pocket, flicking it on, causing the Cybers to jolt into attention and turn, walking off. It was a onetime use though, the next time he used the sonic like that it would just alert the Cybers to it as they'd be familiar with the frequency then, but it had done its job.

"They're leaving," he murmured in the Professor's ear, resting his forehead to her temple as she gathered herself, "Come on," he slowly stood, watching the Cybers go, waiting till they were far enough away to turn to the others, "Go," he urged them on.

They cautiously crept out from behind the rubbish bins, walking along the wall and out to the street, heading down the direction the Cybers had come from, hoping they'd passed and wouldn't backtrack. They'd only just reached it when Jake ran up to them.

"I ran past the river," he called quietly, joining them, "You should've _seen_ it, the whole City's on the watch. Hundreds of Cybermen all down the Thames," he turned to gesture to it and spotted one of the Mickeys dashing for them, alone, "Here he is…hold on…" he frowned, eyeing the man, "Which one are you?"

The Professor shook her head at that, for Ricky being his best friend, he truly couldn't tell the man from Mickey when it was clearly Mickey before them? She could always tell when it was the Doctor and he changed his entire face and age and personality with regeneration.

'_That's because you love me,_' he whispered in her mind, '_You recognize my soul, Kata._'

'_Because it's tethered to mine,_' she agreed, thinking of their Bonding. It wasn't a literal binding of souls, they could still live on if the other died, but…their lives would be empty, cold, without the other there.

"I'm sorry," Mickey spoke, nearly choking on his words, "The Cybermen. He couldn't..."

"Are you Ricky?" Jake shouted, "ARE YOU RICKY?"

"He's Mickey," the Professor sighed, "It's Mickey."

"Yeah," Mickey swallowed hard, Rose rushing over to hug him tightly as Jake stared, Mickey holding his gaze, "He tried. He was running..." till Jake turned away, so Mickey stepped after him, "There was too many of them…"

"Shut it," Jake hissed, his face scrunched, trying not to cry for the loss of his best mate.

"There was nothing I could do…"

"I said just SHUT IT!" Jake raged as he spun to face Mickey, nearly spitting in his face, "Don't even TALK about him. You're NOTHING_,_you…"

He was cut off suddenly by hands curling into the front of his shirt and being shoved against the wall behind him by the Professor, "You calm down, Jake," she warned him, her expression hard, "You calm down, and you stop shouting at Mickey. You and Ricky wanted to be heroes? BE one. Stop this, so that his death isn't worthless. But don't you DARE call Mickey worthless while the Doctor or I are around, do you understand me?"

Jake glared at her, but said nothing, so she released him.

The Doctor reached out to tug her back, looping his arm around her waist to press her back to his front, swaying her gently, knowing that she had very bad reactions to others being put down, and in a situation like this, with the tension higher, her reactions were more extreme, "We will mourn him when London is safe," he stated, "And that is not right now. We need to stop the Cybers, we need to keep the others safe, so no one else is lost," he looked at Jake, "Right now, we move on."

Jake gave a miserable nod, but turned to walk on, leading the group away.

~8~

Lumic's headquarters at Battersea was far too easy to find, even if Pete hadn't been there to guide them, it wouldn't have been that hard to discover it, not with the large zeppelin with a giant transmitter attached to it. It was like holding a large sign over the factory that said 'LOOK HERE!' at least to the Time Lords. They stood on a small hill overlooking the river, eyeing the factory while Mrs. Moore set up on a bench behind them.

"The whole of London's been sealed off," the Doctor frowned, "And the entire population's been taken inside that place to be 'converted.'"

"We've gotta get in there and shut it down!" Rose declared.

"How do we do that?" Mickey shook his head.

"We can't go in without a plan," the Professor agreed, observing the building with sharp eyes, taking in everything she could see and hear, "We need a proper strategy," she reached out and nudged the Doctor, "Unlike your 'things,'" she teased even as he captured her hand, "We are not making this one up as we go."

"I agree," the Doctor sighed, "Though I do do it brilliantly," he winked at the Professor.

"Mrs. Moore?" the Professor turned to her, "Do you have the blueprints ready?"

Mrs. Moore nodded and gestured them over, putting the laptop on the tips of her knees so they could gather around and see the files she had on Lumic and Battersea, "That's a schematic of the old factory. Look, cooling tunnels underneath the plant…"

"Which are big enough to walk through?" the Professor considered it as Mrs. Moore nodded.

"Shall we go under there and up into the control center?" the Doctor glanced at her, letting her have more of a say between them, after all, among the two of them she had always been the one that came up with actual working plans.

"It would be best to attack on all sides," the Professor shook her head, "Too many people in the cooling tunnels will raise the temperature, send out an alert. We couldn't risk more than…2, maybe 3 people down there. And there's still the matter of the zeppelin's transmitter and trying to see what they're doing inside the factory…"

"So let me go in," Pete offered, "Through the front door. If they've taken Jackie for upgrading, that's how she'll get in."

"We can't just go strolling up," Jake scoffed, coming to join them from where he'd been standing off on his own.

"The earpods we disabled, Doctor," the Professor turned to him, "May I have them?" he pulled them out of his pocket, "These would be dead, you could wear them and, so long as you act like the others, the Cybers won't notice."

"I have a pair of fake earpods too," Mrs. Moore offered, "For whoever goes with him."

"I can go alone," Pete shook his head.

"This is too important to not take a partner," the Doctor countered.

"I'll go," Rose volunteered, taking the pods, "If that's the best way of finding Jackie...I'm going."

"Why does she matter to YOU?" Pete eyed her.

"We haven't got time," Rose waved it off, "What do we need to do?" she turned to the Professor, ready to listen and do as instructed.

"Be stoic," the Professor warned as she and Pete put the pods in, "Be rigid, expressionless, and move as slowly as the others. Don't talk if you can help it."

"Be sure to show NO emotion," the Doctor agreed, "None at all. ANY sign of emotion would give you away."

"Now, second part of the plane, the transmitter," the Professor stood from where she was sitting beside Mrs. Moore, moving towards the small hill again, "Jake, Mickey, with me," she called them over, "You see that transmitter on the front of the zeppelin?" they nodded, squinting where she was merely looking, "THAT is what's transmitting the control signal. You two need to take it down. We'll be able to go in on all sides, above, within, and below, and in small enough groups to not be noticed," the Doctor smirked as he watched her drawing up strategy like a proper general, "Pete and Rose will find Jackie, the Doctor, Mrs. Moore, and I will make our way to the control center to disable the conversion booths, and you two," she looked at Mickey and Jake, "Will stop the signal to the earpods so the people can flee."

"No," Jake shook his head, "No, I'm not doing this with him," he pointed at Mickey, "I don't need the idiot."

"He's not an idiot," came the very firm response from the Doctor, something that shocked Mickey so much that his own defense died on his lips, "He's actually quite brilliant and resolute. He's a survivor," he looked at Mickey, "And I'm sorry I didn't see it sooner."

Mickey blinked at that, "Um…thanks?"

The Doctor smirked and nodded, "Good luck."

"Yeah," Mickey shook his head, "You too. Rose," he glanced at her, seeing Jake already walking off in a huff, "I'll see you later."

"Yeah, you better," Rose called, trying to smile.

"Mickey," the Professor called as he turned to go, "Meet at the TARDIS when this is over."

He nodded, "You got it boss," before he ran after Jake.

"Rose," the Professor looked at her, "Good luck to you as well."

Rose gave a firm nod and turned to go with Pete towards the entrance.

"Seems it's just us," the Doctor smiled at the Professor getting up and walking over to her, taking her hand, pressing a kiss to it, "As it should be."

"Et hem?" Mrs. Moore cleared her throat though she looked more amused than offended, standing, "As sweet as you both are…do try not to raise the temperature down there TOO much, yeah?"

The Professor blushed furiously at that as the Doctor just grinned smugly, wrapping his arm around her waist.

~8~

The Professor turned as she made it down the last step of the ladder to the cooling tunnels, the Doctor's hands lightly on her waist to help steady her, not that she needed a steadying hand, but she was not about to tell him to pull away. Though she did laugh and shake her head when he tugged her towards him, wrapping his arms around her as she turned for a moment, squeezing her sides to make her squirm away, ticklish, making Mrs. Moore laugh.

"It's freezing here," the woman commented, "Maybe you should heat things up a bit," she teased.

"Is there a light switch in the schematics?" the Professor blushed, looking around, not quite wanting the lights on given that everyone would see how red she was.

Mrs. Moore seemed to sense that and chuckled, "Can't see a thing. But I've got these..." she sifted through her bag, pulling out a hand torch and two sets of miner's lights for their heads, "A device for every occasion."

The Doctor reached out and took the headlight, turning to the Professor to put it on her head for her, answering her questioning look with a, "I know you like having your hands free," before he took the hand torch for himself, Mrs. Moore fixing the other light onto her head.

"Let's see where we are exactly," Mrs. Moore turned on her torch, nearly jumping back when they spotted a Cyberman standing there against the wall.

The Professor would not admit the Doctor was right when she reached out to grab his hand tightly at the sight, stepping back when her own light picked up the fact that there wasn't just one Cyber there…but hundreds, standing in a row straight down the tunnel.

"Lifeless," the Doctor reassured them, reaching out to rap on one, "Already converted, just paralyzed," he looked back at the Professor, "They're deactivated," he reassured her, lifting her hand to kiss, "They're no threat."

"They're always a threat," the Professor murmured.

"You can go back," he offered, "You can go with Mickey, I know you could catch up to them easily enough. There's not likely to be any Cybers on the zeppelin and…"

"No," she swallowed hard, shaking her head, squeezing his hand again, "No, I'd…I'd rather be with you," she told him, "You…you keep me calm, make me feel safe."

He smiled at that, "The feeling is mutual," he murmured, glancing at Mrs. Moore who seemed to understand the Professor's unease about the metal men and gave them a moment of privacy, closely inspecting the first Cyber instead, "Come on," he called to her, turning to lead the way down the tunnel, "Let's go slowly…"

"Keep an eye out for trip systems," the Professor murmured, looking around but also trying not to look at the Cybers as well, there were so many of them, all just stacked there one after the other in an endless line.

"Brilliant," the Doctor nodded, squeezing her hand.

She shook her head, trying to focus on something else, needing a distraction, and glanced at Mrs. Moore, "How did you get involved in all this, Mrs. Moore?" she inquired, "How did you end up with the Preachers?"

"Oh, I used to be ordinary," Mrs. Moore smiled, actually thankful to be talking instead of just looking at the Cybers as they went, "Worked at Cybus Industries. '95. 'Til one day, I find something I'm not supposed to. A file on the mainframe. All I did was read it. Then suddenly, I've got men with guns knocking in the middle of the night. Life on the run. Then I found the Preachers. They needed a techy, so I…I just sat down and taught myself everything."

"That sounds familiar," the Doctor smiled at that, nudging the Professor, but she gave him an odd look for that, "I taught myself piano just so I could play a duet with you," he admitted, "Never quite got around to telling you that though."

She smiled, "After this we'll sit down and find a nice one," and that thought, the duets, made her think of another question, "What about ?"

"Well, he's not called 'Moore,'" she chuckled, "I got that from a book, 'Mrs. Moore.'"

"'Mrs. Moore in Space?'" the Professor guessed, it was a rather apt code name given that her companions were aliens.

"Yes," Mrs. Moore breathed, startled, "You've read it?"

"We've lived it," she joked, thinking on the premise of exploring the universe and other planets of the book.

"It was safer not to use real names," Mrs. Moore sighed, shrugging, "But my husband thinks I'm dead. It was the only way to keep him safe. Him and the kids. What about you?" she glanced at them, "Got any family, or..."

"Not anymore," the Professor sighed.

"Just each other," the Doctor squeezed her hand, making her smile.

"So go on then," she looked at Mrs. Moore, "What's your real name?"

Mrs. Moore hesitated, but took a breath, "Angela Price. Don't tell a soul."

"On our honor," the Doctor crossed his hearts, "Not a word from us."

The Professor's small smile started to fall as she slowed down.

"What is it?" the Doctor turned to her, instantly aware.

"Do you hear that?" she breathed, "It's…a beeping noise…" she lowly turned to look at the Cybers, jumping when Mrs. Moore gasped.

"Did that one just move?!" the woman cried, pointing her head light to the metal man's hand.

"No," the Doctor shook his head, tugging the Professor closer, not wanting to alarm either of them, "It's just the torchlight."

"No," the Professor tensed, "It's not!" she cried seeing one turning its head, "They're waking up! Go!" she turned and pushed Mrs. Moore on, rushing her down the hall, the Doctor behind her, the Cybers starting to turn, stepping into the tunnel just after they'd past, the three of them barely managing to keep ahead of them.

"There!" the Doctor shouted, pointing ahead to a later, the Cybers now starting to march after them, "Up! Up! Get up!" he pushed the Professor to climb up first, Mrs. Moore after her.

"Doctor, sonic!" the Professor called down, and he tossed her the sonic up to flash against the lock of the hatch keeping them trapped. She let out a frustrated groan when it didn't open, balling her hand into a fist and slamming it against the hatch, but it wouldn't budge. Thinking quickly, she twisted, maneuvering herself so that her arms were braced against the length of the ladder, her legs above her, bent at the knees before slamming up, kicking the stuck hatch open. She locked her leg through one of the rungs to prop herself back up and started to climb out, reaching down to help Mrs. Moore up, the two leaning down as the Doctor burst out to slam the hatch back down, the Doctor sonicing it just in time to keep the Cybers away.

The Doctor looked at the two women with him, all of them panting, and moved to the Professor, hugging her tightly, "Good show," he murmured in her ear.

"Thank you," she whispered, clinging to him.

"Both the kick and the…other show," he waggled his eyebrows.

The Professor blushed and groaned, burying her face in his chest as she realized, in turning herself upside down to kick the hatch open she may or may not have accidently flashed her knickers a bit.

The Doctor just laughed, pressing a kiss to her hair as she shook her head in denial.

~8~

The small trio walked cautiously along the upper level of the cooling tunnels, on edge and more aware of their surroundings as they went, not wanting to risk the Cybers spotting them, though it seemed their luck was holding for the moment as the lower level appeared to have been the holding quarters for the metal men.

Though, as the Doctor was among their group, it did make sense that their luck wouldn't hold forever for, the moment they turned a corner, there was a Cyberman before them.

"You are not upgraded," it stated, starting to reach for them.

"Yeah?" Mrs. Moore stepped up, pulling a small cylinder from her bag, "Well, upgrade THIS!" she threw it at the Cyber, the device sticking to its chest instantly, sprouting small spurts of electricity that made the Cyber jerk and twitch before it collapsed backwards with a bang.

"What was that?" the Professor blinked, looking at the woman.

Mrs. Moore grinned, pleased it worked, "Electromagnetic bomb. Takes out computers, I figured it might stop the cyber-suit."

"Very clever," the Doctor nodded in praise, glancing at the Professor in silent question with a small nod to the Cyber.

The Professor took a deep breath but nodded, slowly approaching it, the Doctor just behind her, not about to force her to get closer than she was comfortable.

"Well it seems like it worked," the Professor murmured as she knelt down, not wanting to touch the Cyber so the Doctor did it instead, reaching out with his sonic to press to the small logo on the center of the Cyber's chest plate, "Know thine enemy," she sighed.

"Logo on the front," the Doctor began to list, examining the robot closely, "They're a brand now," he mused, pulling it away to look inside, "Heart of steel," he pointed out, "Typical," he pulled out what looked like a web made of flesh, "Central nervous system."

"Artificially grown," the Professor seemed about to touch it before she withdrew her hand, shaking her head, "Then threaded throughout the suit so it responds like the living thing it used to be."

"And there it is," the Doctor moved the sonic towards a small chip just inside the opening, "Emotional inhibitor, what makes it respond like a robot."

"Inhibitor," Mrs. Moore repeated, frowning, "It stops them feeling? Why would…"

"It still has a human brain within," the Doctor answered, "Imagine the implications of what would come of it seeing itself for what it is, what it used to be…"

"They would go mad," the Professor said quietly.

"They probably would," the Doctor agreed.

"No," the Professor shook her head, looking at him, "They WOULD."

He eyed her a moment, before slowly nodding, understanding what she meant, she KNEW they would go insane, somehow, she knew the answer, whether she'd read it or seen it happen, but she knew with absolute certainty what would happen.

"So they cut out the one thing that makes them human," Mrs. Moore breathed.

"Because they must," the Doctor replied solemnly.

"Why am I cold?" the Cyberman suddenly spoke, its voice somewhat halting.

"Oh, my God," Mrs. Moore gasped as the Professor nearly jumped away from it, the Time Lady standing and taking a step back, "It's alive. It can FEEL."

"We broke the inhibitor," the Doctor inspected, leaning over to glance at the chip a moment, before speaking to the Cyber, to the human inside it, "I am so sorry."

"Why so cold?" it repeated.

"Can you remember your name?"

"Sally. Sally Phelan."

"You're a woman," Mrs. Moore's eyes widened at that.

"Where's Gareth?"

She frowned, "Who's Gareth?"

"He can't see me. It's unlucky the night before."

The Professor inhaled deeply but slowly at the implication, "You were getting married."

"I'm cold," the woman, Sally, sounded like she was either shivering or on the verge of crying but unable to physically do either, "I'm so cold."

"Turn it off," the Professor murmured, reaching out to put a hand on the Doctor's shoulder, "Turn her off."

He nodded, pressing his sonic to the metal heart, "Rest well, Sally," he told her, sonicing the device so that the faint blue light illuminating the chest cavity flickered off, "We shall not allow Sally Phelan to die in vain," he decided, blinking as he realized something, "And that's the key, isn't it?" he turned to the Professor for confirmation that his theory would be correct, "The emotional inhibitor, if we could find the code behind it, the cancellation code, then feed it throughout the system into every Cyberman's head. They'd realize what they are."

"They would," the Professor nodded.

"And what happens then?" Mrs. Moore frowned, looking between them.

The Professor looked down at Sally with sadness in her eyes, "It will kill them," she admitted, looking at the Doctor, "I don't want to be that again," she admitted to him quietly.

He stood slowly, staring her in the eyes, "You won't be," he tugged her closer, "I promise you, you won't ever have to become that again."

She nodded against his shoulder at that, breathing in his scent.

Mrs. Moore had only just stood to agree with them when she screamed, making the Time Lords gasp and turn to see a Cyberman had grabbed her by the back of the neck, having approached 'on silent,' and was sending electricity coursing through her till she fell to the ground.

"No!" the Professor cried.

"You didn't have to kill her!" the Doctor shouted, moving the Professor behind him to defend her, but there was no safe place as more Cybers approached, surrounding them.

"Sensors detect binary vascular systems," the Cyber that had killed Mrs. Moore stated, "You are unknown upgrades. You will be taken for analysis."

~8~

The Doctor and Professor glanced over, both of them nearly rolling their eyes, when they saw an angry Pete and a sad but apologetic Rose standing in the control room of the factory they had been escorted into by the Cybers.

"So now it's up to Mickey then," the Doctor eyed them, shaking his head at how they'd clearly gotten caught out.

"Sorry," Rose winced.

"Are you both alright?" the Professor frowned at their expressions.

"Yeah," Rose shifted, glancing at Pete, "But they got Jackie."

"We were too late," Pete sighed, "Lumic killed her."

The Doctor nodded at that, glancing at the Professor with a small nod. She returned it, moving to stand nearer to the computers while he moved to the center of the room, standing straight, his hands behind his back, "May we beg an audience with our Lord and Master?" he called out, ready for the confrontation to begin.

"He has been upgraded," said a Cyberman that was standing on the side of a small platform.

"You mean he's now Cyber-kind then," the Doctor remarked.

"He is superior," the Cyber continued, "The Lumic Unit has been designated Cyber Controller," the Doctor watched, feeling the Professor's gaze behind him as she too watched the wall open and an advanced, highly technical yet elaborate chair slid out from the room behind it, setting into the platform, another Cyberman sitting on it, though this one was covered in wires and tubes and other bits of life-supportive tech.

"This is The Age of Steel and I am its Creator!" the new Cyberman stated.

The Doctor nodded, "So this is the infamous Mr. Lumic," he eyed the metal man, "I thought you'd be a bit more intimidating," he mused, "Though," he shrugged, "You've never seen my Bonded when she's furious," he looked back at the Professor, "Never was there ever, nor shall there ever be, a more striking and dangerous woman to be found in the throes of anger."

"Stop it," the Professor blushed, looking away, absently fiddling with the keyboard though he knew she wasn't just 'fiddling' with anything nor doing it absently…

For a moment later the monitors all flickered on, revealing the people who had been dazedly marching to their doom now fleeing the factory screaming, freed of the earpods control…which could only mean one thing.

"Well done Mickey," the Professor smiled, glancing at the Doctor, "He's one-upped us," she remarked.

"Well we can't have that," he winked, turning to face Lumic, "I do believe that's a vote for freewill."

Lumic merely tilted his head, "I have factories waiting on seven continents. If the earpods have failed, then Cybermen will take humanity by force. London has fallen. So shall the world. I will bring peace to the world. Everlasting peace and unity and uniformity."

"Yet nothing about imagination," he remarked, "That IS what drove you to even engineer this," he gestured around, "Isn't it? Where would you be without it?"

"Dead?" the Professor supplied and he snapped his finger and pointed at her.

"What is your name?" Lumic asked.

The Doctor lifted his chin, "I'm the Doctor, and that," he nodded over his shoulder, is the Professor, my Bonded."

"Both are redundant titles," Lumic stated, "Doctors and Professors need not exist. Cybermen never sicken and may download information."

"And that is precisely the point," the Doctor carried on calmly, stepping up towards Lumic to stare the bot down, "But you don't see it anymore, do you?" he shook his head, "You're a very clever man, Lumic, I'll give you that, I might have even called you a genius except the Professor's standing just behind me and she currently holds that title the moment she sets foot on Earth…"

"The Cybers, Doctor," the Professor reminded him to keep him on track, though she had a small smile on her face at how he'd called HER the genius. He always liked to tease (as much as she liked to tease as well) that she could think faster than he could. But it was largely book smarts as well, she excelled at school, pushed herself, studied and worked hard to do well, she got better grades than him on exams, so, in a way she was smarter than him, but he was so much wiser in other areas, had seen so much more of the Universe than she had.

"Yes," the Doctor nodded, focusing on Lumic, "Everything you've invented, you did to fight your sickness. And that's is rather ingenuitive. But it's also HUMAN. Unfortunately, once you rid yourself of the sickness, the humanity followed. And what else is there left to reach for? You can't advance from where you are right now," he pointed at the ground with a finger, "You'll stay static. Forever, in your metal suits. And you're going to try to convert everyone around you, and all it will do is kill your empire and your planet. Because that's what a planet needs, people. Ordinary people. People that can FEEL."

"You are proud of your emotions?" Lumic inquired.

"Yes, very much so."

"Then tell me, Doctor, have you known grief, and rage, and pain?"

"Yes, I have."

"And they hurt?"

"They did once," he agreed, "But not anymore," he smiled a bit, "But that's the Professor for you, her kiss is truly the best anesthetic and balm in the universe."

"Stop it," the Professor muttered behind him.

"Not a chance," he glanced back at her, seeing her typing something into the computer behind her back, not even needing to look at the keyboard.

"I could improve this," Lumic called, drawing the Doctor's gaze back, "Would you not want that? A life lived without any level of pain?"

"I'd rather die," the Doctor shook his head, "To take away the pain means to take away what soothes it as well. And I'd die before I let anyone take my Bonded from me."

"Then I take that option," Lumic lifted his arm, preparing to attack him.

"YOU don't get a say in that," the Professor strode to the Doctor's side, linking her arm with his though he could feel how tense she was, to have to face down even Lumic, but she was doing it, for him, to stand beside him, "And you wouldn't be able to even if you tried. I may look small, Lumic, but don't you dare underestimate me."

"You're a CYBER controller," the Doctor agreed, "For all your intelligence, it's still artificial, you can't compete against anyone with blood in its heart or hearts," he squeezed her hand, "And I know from experience you won't be able to outwit her," he nodded at the Professor.

It was true, he considered it, it took him…great lengths to distract her enough to get one up on her. Though he rather did enjoy his methods of distraction recently…

'_Stop it,_' the Professor whispered in his head, though he could see her starting to blush at his thoughts.

"You have no means of stopping me," Lumic intoned, "I have an army. A species of my own."

"And it's been my experience that even the greatest armies in the universe can STILL be taken down by a single person," the Professor spoke, making Rose look at her at that, knowing the Professor was actually speaking from experience. The Doctor knew as well where her thoughts had gone, to how she'd handle the Dalek armies, how single Academics, not just herself, had been able to take out scores of them in the war, "Just a single, ordinary person, can affect the course of history," she glanced up at a security camera in the wall just above Lumic's head.

The Doctor followed her gaze and smiled, understanding that her efforts at the computer just before had worked. She'd been trying to trigger the security camera in the room to the control center, where Mickey was, where he'd be able to control more than just the earpods.

"I agree entirely," he nodded, "Some ordinary man or woman...even someone who thinks themselves an idiot at times," he stared at the camera a moment, "All it would take is to find a certain sequence of numbers, the right codes, something so simple as the code for the emotional inhibitors," he suggested, looking to Lumic once more.

"Even a child these days knows how to use a computer," the Professor went along with it, "So imagine what a grown man could do? How many firewalls and passwords he could bypass, how easily he could break an encryption from the Lumic Family Database under Binary 9."

"And imagine what they'd be able to do if they could," the Doctor mused, "Imagine what they'd do with the cancellation code to your Cybermen. Just the right amount of courage and drive to see those he cares about safe can make a man stronger and faster than he ever imagined, braver and cleverer…"

"Your words are irrelevant," Lumic cut in.

"Yes," he sighed, "I do talk too much, don't I? But, given your distaste of all things remotely emotional, I doubt you'd be pleased with the one public display of affection that could silence this gob," he pointed at his mouth, the Professor shaking her head at him, a faint blush on her cheeks, she would really have to speak to him about not managing to flirt with her while in the middle of standing up to the enemy, "Imagine the bill I'd rack up if this were on a phone though. A mobile telephone."

"You will be deleted!" Lumic cried, lifting his arm once more.

"Yes, why not press the end key," the Doctor baited, "End the chat, delete the error, send a message…" he glanced at the camera once more, "And the best part," he smiled, "Is that what you do here, affects all your Cybermen throughout the factory, throughout the world," he felt the Professor tense beside him as Rose's phone beeped behind them, "Because that's how you got control of the human race, you connected them all together through your tech, making everything easy and compatible…"

"It's for you!" Rose shouted, tossing him her phone.

"Exactly like this!" he turned and shoved Rose's phone down onto an upright port in the control bank behind him.

The reaction was instant as chaos erupted around them, all the Cybers in the room starting to cry out in agony, their hands flying to their heads and gripping them. All around the room the code that Mickey had found flashed across the screens, some flickering to other areas of the factory where those Cybers were collapsing as well before they were covered by the code.

The Time Lords looked over, seeing one Cyber had caught sight of their reflection and was touching it in what they would guess was horror at the sight.

"What have you done?!" Lumic roared as he stood.

"We gave them back their souls," the Doctor turned to him, his back straight, hands clenched into fists, chin up in defiance, "They can see what you've done, Lumic! And it's killing them," he finished quietly, turning and grabbing the Professor's hand to pull her out of the room, Rose and Pete following behind, ignoring Lumic's cries and orders of 'Delete!' behind them.

The Professor winced as she pulled ahead of the Doctor, taking the lead instead, knowing her reactions were sharper than the others around her, knowing she'd act quicker to threats popping up and, with all the explosions now going on through the halls as the Cybermen seemed to nearly self-destruct, they would need every advantage they had to get out alive.

Which was made all the more difficult by Cybers seeming to block every entrance.

They had just paused at an intersection, trying to determine the best route to go when Rose's phone rang again and she answered it. Her eyes widened as she got a message, "It's Mickey!" she shouted, "He says 'head for the roof.'"

"This way!" the Professor ran for the nearest staircase, having both a vague recollection of the layout of the factory in her head from Mrs. Moore's schematics, but also knowing that, logically, to get up to the roof, you just had to keep going up and up and up as far as you could. So they dashed up flight after flight of stairs, ducking under flames, leaping to the side of explosions, not stopping till they burst out of a small door to a lower section of the room.

They ran across it, to a small ladder that led up even higher, scrambling up it, the Professor, then Rose, then Pete, and the Doctor last, racing across that level and stopping short when they saw the zeppelin starting to bear down on them.

"Mickey?" Rose called into the phone, "Where'd you learn to fly that thing?!"

"We'll have to have a zeppelin race one day," the Professor remarked as she stared at the rope ladder being thrown out of the craft.

"What?" the Doctor glanced at her.

"The High Council trained us in 2,700 forms of transport," she told him as they ran for the ladder.

"And zeppelins were one?"

"You'd be surprised at what was included," she muttered, hesitating to climb up after sending Rose up first.

"Go," he whispered in her ear, knowing her reluctance to climb, knowing her fear of heights, "I'll be right behind you, and you know I'd never let you fall…"

"Or else you'd just jump after me," she nodded, swallowing hard, before taking a breath and starting to climb, looking up, forcing herself not to look down, "No peeking," she muttered to him under her breath, realizing she was still wearing a dress and he was right under her skirt.

"This time, I promise I won't," he reassured her, wanting her to be comfortable and not have to look down at him, climbing up after her as Pete followed soon after, the zeppelin starting to rise.

"Welcome to Mickey's Airlines!" Mickey's voice called over a speaker, "Please enjoy your flight. Woo!"

The Professor couldn't help but laugh a bit as Mickey cheered and whooped, flying the zeppelin off, the four of them clinging to the ladder and slowly trying to climb as well.

"We did it," she could hear Rose breathe above her, not sounding quite as excited and exuberant as she expected the girl would have.

But she had little time to think of that as the ladder suddenly jerked, "Doctor?!"

"It's Lumic!" he called up to her, knowing she really very much did NOT want to have to look down, "He's gotten the bottom of the ladder…" he shuffled, pulling the sonic out of his pocket, "Pete!" he looked down at the man, dropping the sonic to him, "Hold the button down against the rope!"

Pete nodded, leaning over as far as he could to press the sonic to the rope, "Jackie Tyler," he declared, glaring at Lumic as the bot tried to climb up, "This is for her!"

And, with that, he pressed the button, causing the sonic to cut through the ropes, weakening them enough for Lumic's new, metal weight to pull him down, causing the rope to snap, the man falling towards the factory with a cry just as flames erupted beneath them, the zeppelin flying them away to safety.

~8~

The Professor finally released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding as she watched the lights and power of the console room restore, the Doctor slipping the power cell into the console itself, beaming at the gentle hum of their box coming back to life.

The Doctor moved over to her, winding his arms around her waist and kissing her cheek at the happiness on her face, leaning in more to trail his kiss to her neck, managing to place one more before she turned in his arms.

"As much as I would love to continue," she told him, patting his chest, "We'll have barely 5 minutes of power to work with, we have to go, now."

He nodded, letting out a playful huff of air that had her laughing, before they headed to the doors, hand in hand. They stepped out and looked around for Mickey and Rose, hoping the two hadn't wandered again, after all this they did not want to have to leave just because the humans hadn't been there when they told them it wouldn't be long before they left. If it came down to it, they both knew they WOULD leave without Rose or Mickey, for the sake of the TARDIS, the power cell was the last one left, they'd checked, and it wouldn't power up again after this. THIS was their last chance to leave.

"Oh no," the Professor breathed as she saw Rose speaking to Pete, Rose looking tearful while Pete looked startled as well as flummoxed, "Rose?" she called as they walked over.

"We need to go," the Doctor told her, "There's only 5 minutes of power left, it has to be now."

Rose glanced at Pete pleadingly, "The Doctor and Professor could show ya…"

The Doctor's lips pursed at that, at how it seemed Rose was inviting someone along in a TARDIS that SHE did not own or pilot or control, inviting someone to join them when she had no right to ask it as it wasn't her that was responsible for the box or those that came along in it.

But Pete didn't seem interested anyway, "Thank you. For everything," was all he said as he turned her down.

"Dad…"

"Rose," the Professor gave her a sharp look that had her looking down.

"Don't," Pete agreed, backing away, "Just…just don't," before he turned and left.

"I warned you Rose," the Professor sighed, letting her know without saying it that Pete's reaction was her own fault.

Luckily Rose was spared what the Doctor would have said as he opened his mouth to add something by Mickey calling out, "Here it is!" before he jogged over with Jake a few feet behind, keeping his distance for the moment, "I found it. Not a crease."

The Professor beamed as she saw him holding her dress folded neatly in his arms, "Thank you Mickey!" she took it, "I can't wait to get out of this getup," she looked down at her serving attire that she'd been wearing the entire time.

"Jake," the Doctor looked over at Jake, gesturing him closer, "We're leaving now, but there is one thing we would appreciate you do."

"Anything," Jake nodded, after all this…he owed it to them.

"Mrs. Moore," he began, "Her real name is Angela Price. She's got a husband out there. And children. Find them. Tell them how she died saving the world."

Jake sobered at that, growing serious, intent, "Yeah, course I will," if there was anyone he owed more than the two of them, it was Mrs. Moore and Ricky.

"Then it's time we leave," he looked at Mickey and Rose.

"Uh..." Mickey shifted in place, "Thing is, I'm staying."

"What?" the Professor frowned.

"You can't!" Rose cried, tears in her eyes even more pronounced from the heartbreak of dealing with her 'father.'

"It sort of balances out though," Mickey tried to argue, tried to keep the tears out of his voice but couldn't quite manage, "Cos this world lost its Ricky. But there's me. And there's work to be done with all those Cybermen still out there."

"But you can't stay!"

"Rose," Mickey sighed, "My gran's here. She's still alive. My old gran, remember her?"

Rose sniffled, but nodded, "Yeah."

"She NEEDSme."

"What about me? What if _I_ need you?"

Mickey gave her an understanding look, glancing at the Time Lords and back with a small smile, "You don't," he murmured, "You know you don't. And you know why. You've got other people that'll look out for you when I can't."

"Then…we'll come back," she looked at the Time Lords pleadingly, "We can travel anywhere, come and see him, yeah?"

The Professor shook her head, "We can't Rose."

"We told you," the Doctor agreed, "Travel between parallel worlds is impossible. The only reason we're even HERE is an accident, one that will close the moment the TARDIS goes back through it."

"And with it closed, we won't be able to return."

Mickey took a deep breath at that confirmation and turned to the Doctor, holding out a hand to him, "Doctor."

The Doctor nodded, shaking his hand firmly, "Keep Rose's phone," he told him, "It'll have the cancellation code on it. And after we leave…get it out there. Stop those factories," he nodded as he appraised Mickey one more time, "I was wrong about you, Mickey Smith," Mickey seemed shocked at that, "You're hardly an idiot, not at all even."

Mickey smiled, "Thanks boss," he looked at the Professor, holding his arms open for her to hug him, rolling his eyes as he saw the Doctor playfully (or perhaps actually very seriously, he couldn't tell) narrow his eyes at him for it, "I'll miss you Professor," he told her, pulling back.

"I'll miss you too," she smiled sadly at him, "Take care of yourself Mickey, and be smart, be careful. Promise me?"

He nodded, "Yeah."

The Professor gave him one more smile and nod before she turned, taking the Doctor's hand and moving back to the TARDIS with him, leaving Rose to have a few moments of privacy to say goodbye to Mickey.

They moved to the console, silent, waiting, quietly counting down the time Rose had left before they would have to tell her to get in the TARDIS. Thankfully it hadn't come down to them interrupting her goodbye as the girl entered the box, tears falling from her eyes, with a mere 10 seconds to spare, the two of them needing to get the box up and going, back to their world, sealing the tear behind them as they went.

~8~

The Time Lords stood before the TARDIS, Rose across from them as it sat in Jackie Tyler's sitting room, the woman putting tea on for her daughter who had arrived quite shaken only a short while ago. Rose had begged them to see her mother, needing to be reassured that the Jackie in the parallel world wasn't her mother, wasn't dead, and so they'd taken her home.

Jackie had been thrilled to see Rose, though it quickly faded to concern when Rose hugged her and started to cry, so relieved her mother was alive. Jackie hadn't been pleased that something had shaken her daughter so badly while in the Time Lords' care, but Rose had just sat her down and explained the last adventure they'd had, how she'd met her father in a parallel world, how they didn't have a daughter, how Mickey had stayed there, how she'd died…before starting to choke on her tears again, prompting Jackie to get up and make her a nice cuppa to calm down.

The Time Lords had observed it with a quiet, though keen eye, watched how Rose interacted with her mother, heard how she sounded as she retold the tale, and they noticed, before Rose even turned to face them, the look in her eyes as she watched her mother putter about the kitchen.

"This is it, isn't it?" the Professor guessed as Rose stood before them.

"You're staying here then?" the Doctor nodded slowly.

Rose gave them a small nod, "I…I can't," she breathed, tears in her eyes again, "I...my mum died," her voice cracked, "My mum died, she was turned into a robot and…and her head exploded, somewhere in that factory, she died, alone, because I wasn't there…"

"You never would have been there, Rose," the Doctor reminded her, not…wanting her to blame herself for it, "You didn't exist there."

"But I do HERE," she stressed, "I'm here, and that," she looked at the kitchen, "That is my REAL mum, and I left her, I left her as alone as the other Jackie was. And…if the Cybermen could start there, then…they could have just as easily started here and Mum would have had no idea, because I wasn't there to take care of her," she turned back to them, "I won't let that happen, I won't lose her again. So…I can't travel with you, I'm sorry, but…I just can't. I can't lose her."

The Professor stepped forward and gave her a reassuring hug, "We understand Rose," she told the girl, "She's your mother, and you want her safe. And right now, that means YOU keeping her safe," she pulled away, "All the things you've seen, you'll recognize alien tech more than she would. She couldn't be in safer hands."

"Thank you," Rose whispered.

"Do one better though," the Doctor added, not quite stepping forward to hug her as well, but wanting to let her know that he understood as well, "If you see anything strange happening on Earth, give us a ring."

"You got it," Rose nodded, giving them one last smile, "Goodbye," she breathed as they turned and stepped into the TARDIS, leaving her to watch as the box faded away without her in it.

A/N: I mentioned somewhere, I can't remember if it was here or in a note of another story or on tumblr, but there would be a little twist for Series 2 involving Rose, and this was it. I couldn't see her staying on in the TARDIS after this, not when she wasn't there for so much of Series 1. I felt like, in the show, in Series 1, that was what really got her the taste of travelling and made her want to see more, and the 10th Doctor (not the AU one), her feelings for him, was another big factor in her not wanting to stop or stay with her mother despite knowing that she was leaving her alone for months or even years at a time. But here, she missed out on a majority of Series 1, her last real experience with 9 wasn't favorable, this is a 10 that's solely focused on the Professor and not Rose, so she has no real loyalty or fancy for him, not enough to stay when she was faced with her mother dying such a brutal death even if it wasn't her real mother. Here it made her realize that not being around her mother (similar to how she wasn't there in the parallel world) puts her mother in danger, because she's not there to notice things (like the Christmas tree) or other events that a normal human with no experience with aliens would miss that could be a threat to her. She wants her mother safe, she doesn't want to lose her like she did in the parallel world, and that means being there to be able to do that ;)

Rose WILL feature into a few future chapters, she's not gone entirely, but she won't be travelling to other times and planets in the rest of this story ;) Just imagine what the AU10 will be like when it's just him and Proffy together though ;) ;)

Also, I just wanted to say that it looks like I will be updating this story every other Saturday for this year at least. My 'surprise' I mentioned in the last chapter was to try and start another AU series for Doctor Who with my OC Angel and, depending on the response, I was going to either continue it or delete the first chapter and focus just on this story. There was a very big, mostly positive response so I'm going to continue both AUs, updating every other Saturday for each. I plan to do this at least for this year. I hope that, next year, I'll be able to do something like updating this story every Saturday and Angel every Sunday, but so far, for this year, it's every other Saturday from here on out ;)

Some notes on reviews...

That's understandable :) That was just my interpretation of what Rose was laughing at ;)

It'll depend who is around Amy in that episode for who may or may not get taken with her if someone does get taken too ;) As for River, she may still be their goddaughter in this story, so she might not fancy the Doctor or be jealous, we'll have to wait and see if she'll still be considered that to them or not ;)


	4. The Idiot's Lantern

The Idiot's Lantern

The Professor giggled as she half jumped out of the TARDIS doors moments after the box set down, slapping at the Doctor's hands as he tried to tug her back and reaching for her hair. She hit his hands away again as he managed to touch her cheek, "No," she pointed a warning finger at him, stepping away, "Don't muss my hair!"

The Doctor chuckled at that, giving her a onceover as he took in her appearance. She'd decided to dress for the times for this adventure and how lovely she looked. She was clad in a light blue suit with a knee length pencil skirt reminiscent of the 1950s. She even had her hair curled and pinned back, a small light blue hat just to the side of her head as well, completing the look.

He hated it.

And he loved it.

Loved it because she looked wonderful, as always, hated it because her hair was pinned back and he loved to wind his fingers through her tresses when he kissed her and she wouldn't let him do that this time.

"You look beautiful," he told her, "Ravishing. Delectable…"

"Don't use food references," she shook her head at him, "Makes me feel like you want to take a nibble of me."

"I do," he told her, smirking as she started blushing, "Your neck is divine."

"Stop it," she muttered under her breath, taking a deep one to try and regain her poise, "I see you aren't dressing to fit in?"

"A suit is timeless," he gestured at his typical attire. A white shirt, black jacket, black trousers, though his vest was a light blue to match hers this time, "YOU are timeless," he continued, "You should never dress to blend in, Kata, you, of all people, were born to stand out."

"Really, stop it," she mumbled.

He just grinned at how much redder she'd turned, "Should have worn the red dress," he teased, "It would match."

"It's YOUR fault," she defended, "Stop making me blush."

"Never," he shook his head, crossing his hearts at that. He would never tire of seeing her blush such a lovely shade of red.

The Professor sighed at that, but there was a smile hidden underneath it before she forced herself to look away from his appreciative and focused gaze and around at where they'd landed. She nodded to herself as she took in the area, the time, "1953, June the 1st," she smiled at him, "You actually got us here a day early!"

"Well," he leaned on the corner of the TARDIS, "I DO have some skill at piloting this old box," he patted it.

"Minimal at best," the Professor teased, biting her bottom lip before holding out her hand to him, "Walk with me?"

He grinned, reaching back to shut the TARDIS door, taking her hand as they started to walk down the road, looking at all the Union flags hanging from every rooftop, all the banners and people walking about, excited. And they should be, Elizabeth the Second, her coronation was tomorrow! It was truly a wonderful thing to see, which was one reason the Professor had requested they go see it. After the run in with Queen Victoria, she'd been curious to see some of the other monarchs. They were going somewhat in order now, and she wanted to see what the future of the monarchy would hold.

"There you go, sir!" a man called off to the side, standing in front of a large van, two boys quickly pulling a small television set out of it and hurrying it into a nearby house, "All wired up for the great occasion. Time for a lovely bit of pomp and circumstance, what we do best, eh?" he chuckled.

The Professor eyed the van and the house, her gaze pulled up to the numerous TV aerials along the street, "You've made quite a business for yourself," she remarked to the man, 'Magpie' if the logo on the side of his van was correct.

"Oh yes," he beamed, patting the van, "Magpie's Marvelous Tellies, only five quid a box."

"And it opens up a whole new world to everyone," the Professor smiled at the thought.

"And what a time to do it," the Doctor considered the year, "Quite spectacular a year, Technicolor, Everest climbed, everything off the ration. To quote an old friend, 'the Nation throwing off the shadows of war and looking forward to a happier, brighter future.'"

"I could do with a bit of that," the Professor murmured, looking around at the aerials again.

The Doctor grew quieter at that, tugging her closer and winding his arm around her waist, knowing where her mind had gone. She was trying, very hard, to work past the damage the Krillitanes had done to her. He knew she felt like every time she took a step forward, she was pushed two back by unexpected and dangerous alien enemies she wasn't prepared to face yet. The Cybers had done a number on her in that regard, they brought up even more bad memories way back to when they'd been on Gallifrey.

~/~\~

_"I don't understand!" he shouted as he paced in front of the Professor, the woman sitting on a high stool in a small lab, working on taking a device apart, "Why can't you just tell me?" he turned to her._

_"There's nothing to tell," she defended._

_"You created a device that can take out CYBERMEN," he gaped at her, "How is that 'nothing?'"_

_"Fine," she huffed, looking at him, "I created a device to take out Cybermen, and now I'm un-creating it."_

_"That's not a proper word."_

_"Destroying it then."_

_"WHY? Why would you do that? Do you have any idea how many lives it could save? Why can't you just turn it over to the High Council like they asked!"_

_"I do actually," she gave him a glare for the insinuation, "Have YOU any idea how many wars it could start?! The High Council means to use it as an active weapon, I won't let them do that!"_

_"Kata," he placed his hands on the small work table, trying to look at her, using her name, her true name, the name he shouldn't know as they weren't a Bonded pair, "The Council WILL try you for treason if you withhold this information from them."_

_"I'm aware," she ground out._

_"Then why are you doing it?" he shook his head, "You could be imprisoned! You could be exiled! You could be KILLED. They could execute you after stripping your regenerations from you. Why would you risk that over this?"_

_"I am NOT going to let my creations be used in WAR," she slammed down her tools, "I thought YOU of all people would understand that. Violence does not solve anything. If this was going to be used to defend our own people, I would hand it over instantly. But it's NOT. The Council made it very clear that they mean to use it for offensive attack. And I won't have that! I will NOT have my inventions tainted with war!"_

_The Doctor let out a frustrated breath at that, "How does this even work? How did you even come up with something like this?" he poked the device._

_The Professor looked at him a long while, her lips pursed, her eyes full of sorrow and what seemed to be regret, guilt, before she swallowed hard, "I can't tell you."_

_He blinked, stared at her, and blinked again, "I'm sorry," he shook his head, "I must be losing my hearing, I thought you said you couldn't tell me how your device works."_

_"I DID say that."_

_His mouth dropped open as his brow furrowed, "Why not?"_

_"I just can't."_

_"What, do you think I'll go running to the Council and tell them?" _

_She was silent._

_"You can't be serious!" he shouted, "You really think I would reveal this to them? After you just told me you DON'T want them to know? You really think so little of me?"_

_"Of course I don't!" she snapped, "I know you'd take this to the grave if it were up to you. But it's not. I cannot tell you, Theta."_

_"No," he pushed away from the table and went to follow her as she got up and walked off, "No, Kata, you don't get to walk away from this, not after telling me you don't trust me."_

_"Oh when did I say THAT?" she scoffed, rounding on him._

_"You implied it," he defended, crossing his arms, "You're really not going to tell ME a secret? Just because the High Council wants to know it?"_

_"Right."_

_He gaped at her admission, "Because you think I'll just hand it right over to them."_

_"No!" she huffed, getting frustrated, "It's not that at all Theta!"_

_"Then what is it?! You know I won't tell them."_

_"I know you won't!" she cut in, "It doesn't change the fact that I am NOT telling you! I will not tell you, ever, if you can't accept that, if you are just going to stand there and glare daggers at me because, for once in my life, I withhold something from you, then get out and let me work in peace!"_

_He honestly wasn't sure if she expected him to stride out of the door she was pointing at and slam it behind him, he wasn't sure if HE even realized he'd done just that till he was out the door with it banging shut behind him._

~/~\~

He sighed, shaking his head from his thoughts, that had been one of their worst fights. He hadn't understood why she'd kept something like that till after they'd dropped Rose off. He'd tried to talk to her about the Cybers, knowing it likely hadn't left her feeling very happy and she'd explained it was a fear she'd had that had been proven well founded during the war. She told him what the High Council had been able to do to her, during her training, how they had machines that literally forced their way through the mental walls and natural barriers of the Academics' minds and pushed and burned military lessons into them. If they could do that in war to a group of them, then there was no reason they wouldn't have done something like it to HIM if he knew. Academics were trained when they entered their division to be able to have stronger mental barriers, their lessons and research too important to risk others being able to get hold of it. If she told him and the High Council found out he knew, they would push their way into his mind, being a non-Academic it would be less protected, and pull the secret out of him.

She'd wanted to spare him that.

She was always trying to look out for him and protect him.

Now it was his turn, to protect her from the past, to protect her from other aliens.

His thoughts were cut off by a scream from down the street, a woman was crying out for help as police officers pulled a man with a blanket over his head out of her home, "Someone help me, please! Ted!" they shoved the man over to a police car, "Leave him alone, it's my husband!"

"What's going on?" the Professor shouted as she and the Doctor hurried over, the man now pushed into the back seat of the car.

"Oi, what are you doing?!" a young boy joined them.

"Police business," a rather tall man stated, "Now get out of the way, sir!" he pushed past the Doctor and joined the cops in the car.

"Who did they take?" the Doctor glanced at the young boy, "Do you know who that was?"

"Must be Mr. Gallagher..." the boy frowned, seeing a woman that could only be Mrs. Gallagher weeping as the car took off, "It's happening all over the place. They're turning into monsters..."

"Tommy!" a man snapped behind them, causing Tommy to jump in a flinch that had the Professor frowning to see, "Not one word!" he warned the boy, "Get inside now!"

The boy, Tommy, glanced at the duo, muttering under his breath, "Sorry, I'd better do as he says," before turning and hurrying back towards his house.

The Professor looked at the Doctor, determined, "Shall we?"

He glanced down at her feet, at the small heels she was wearing, "Can you…"

"Run in these?" the Professor smiled, "I can beat you in them too," she challenged.

"You're on," the Doctor winked, "On 3. 1…2…"

"3!" the Professor took off.

"Cheater!" the Doctor shouted, running after her, but she was quite right…she was beating him by at least six feet even in her heels, which didn't really surprise him.

And if he ran a mite slower for the view, well, he wasn't about to tell her that.

'_I heard that,_' she called in his mind.

'_Sorry,_' he apologized, grinning to himself, '_But not sorry at all._'

They raced around a corner, able to spot that there was only a one-way road, that there was nowhere else the car could have turned or gone but straight…yet there was nothing there, no car on the road at all. They kept running, to the very end of the street, slowing only when they saw that there was a wall with a wooden market barrow before it, two men absently sweeping the road.

"How did THEY get away from us?" the Professor frowned at the barrow.

"Well, we WERE on foot," the Doctor remarked, moving his hands behind his back, "I knew I should have used that little scooter."

"You would have looked ridiculous and you only wanted to use it so I would have to wrap my arms around you," the Professor walked over to him, doing just that as she looked up at him, smiling softly, "And I would do that without a scooter as bait."

He hummed at that, "I like this much more than from behind," he murmured.

"You know what I like?" she countered, "Knowing why men in black were abducting people and vanishing. This is Churchill's England, not Stalin's Russia."

"Well then," he decided, "We should do some investigating then, shouldn't we?"

The Professor's small smile faded a bit, "That boy, Tommy…he said 'monsters…'"

He shook his head, "To a child, anything, even the shadows at night, are monsters. It doesn't have to mean alien. And it's 1953, safest year ever. It can't be an alien."

The Professor let out a gentle groan, letting her head flop onto his chest, shaking her head into it as he chuckled, "You had to go and say that."

He just dropped a kiss onto the top of her head.

~8~

The Doctor reached out and knocked on the door that young Tommy had disappeared through earlier, though night had fallen by now, he and the Professor having spoken with a few other people on the street about what was going on. Mrs. Gallagher wasn't very open to talking, which they understood. Thinking on hit though, not many people were willing to speak either. So they had come to Tommy hoping he might talk, they had tried to avoid it though, the boy's father left quite a lot to be desired and the last thing the Professor wanted was for a child to get in trouble with an irate father. But they had no choice now.

"Hello, sir," the Doctor greeted the moment the door was open, reaching out to shake the man's hand.

"Who are you, then?" the man eyed him harshly, snapping his hand back.

The Professor turned and pulled the psychic paper from the Doctor's pocket, holding it up for the man to see, "We represent Queen and Country," she stated, "Making rounds to ensure that Her Majesty's forthcoming subjects are prepared for the great day."

'_Queen and country?_' the Doctor murmured in her head as the man took the paper to examine.

'_Family man, nice house, decent wage, fought in the war?_' the Professor glanced at him, '_What else would get us in?_'

He smiled at that, his hand, on the small of her back, gently stroking her spine with his thumb, '_Brilliant,_' he told her.

She barely refrained from rolling her eyes, '_I use my eyes, I notice everything._'

'_And what eyes they are,_' he looked into them, '_The most lovely, expressive…_'

Whatever he was about to say, which undoubtedly would have drawn a blush from her, was cut off when the man before them started to sputter, "Yes, yes, of course, do come in," he gestured them in, stepping aside to allow them access.

"Thank you, sir," the Professor nodded politely, stepping in ahead of the Doctor who, being the gentleman that he was, let her enter first, "You have a lovely home, Mrs.…" she glanced at the man's timid wife standing at the base of the stairs with Tommy beside her.

"Connolly?" the woman spoke, though it sounded more like a question than an answer for some reason, the woman glancing at her husband as though checking to make sure it was ok she answered.

Apparently it wasn't ok as Mr. Connolly strode forward, almost as though he were going to try and shoo her away, "Now then Rita, I can handle this. These two are proper representatives!" he chuckled at them, leading them into a sitting room, "Don't mind the wife, she rattles on a bit," he added, offering them a seat on the sofa.

"Well, I HAVE found that the rattlings of women are quite a good deal more interesting than men like you, Mr. Connolly," the Doctor stated, sitting with the Professor beside him, not about to let the man brush his wife aside or shut her up, a man ought to NOT do that to his wife, "You know," he eyed the rather startled man, "I'm not entirely convinced you're doing your patriotic duty," he gestured around the room with his left hand, his right moving to rest on the back of the sofa behind the Professor with his right, "You have quite a string of flags," he nodded at a box of Union flags resting beside a wall, "Tell me, why are they not flying?"

"There we are Rita," Mr. Connolly stuttered a bit, flustered, "I told you, _get_ them up, Queen and country!"

"I'm sorry…" Mrs. Connolly started to head for the box.

"Get it done! Do it now!"

The Professor reached out and lightly grabbed Mrs. Connolly's arm as she made to pass the sofa, "Mr. Connolly, a question," she eyed the man, "You are an able-bodied man, clearly patriotic…shouldn't YOU be putting the flags up?"

"Well…it's housework, innit?" the man shook his head.

The Professor frowned, "And that's a woman's job?"

"Course it is!"

"Mr. Connolly, what gender is the Queen?" the Doctor called, a hard look on his face.

"She's a female," the man stated.

"Then you are suggesting that the Queen should do her own housework?" the Professor blinked innocently at him.

"N-no!" Mr. Connolly stuttered, "Not at all!"

"Then why is it any different here?" the Professor challenged, "A palace or a home, housework is NOT solely a woman's work. Especially not if there are OTHERS living in the house and using it."

The Doctor nodded at the box, "Hop to it."

"Right…" Mr. Connolly blinked and turned to the box, "Yes sir," he started to pick up the flags though they could all tell he was not happy about it, "You'll be proud of us, sir! We'll have Union Jacks left, right and center!"

"Now then," the Doctor smiled at Mrs. Connolly, "If you would be so kind as to join us," he gestured at the armchair sitting next to the sofa for her to sit in.

"You as well Tommy," the Professor called, hearing the boy about to leave, thinking this was adult conversation.

"Me?" Tommy blinked as the Professor looked over her shoulder at him.

"This IS your home as well?" the Professor smiled at him, gesturing him over.

"Now then," the Doctor eyed the two others, "I am the Doctor and this is the Professor. So, why don't you tell us what's got you lot so tense?"

Mrs. Connolly and Tommy exchanged a worried glance.

"Tell us," the Professor leaned forward to look at them more, "We'll try our best to help."

Tommy reached out and took his mother's hand, nodding at her encouragingly as she looked at the Doctor, "Did you say you were a doctor?"

"I did," he nodded.

"Can you help her?" Mrs. Connolly started to weep, "Oh please, can you help her, Doctor?"

"Now then Rita," Mr. Connolly turned to her, "I don't think the gentleman needs to know..."

"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't," the Doctor retorted dryly, Mrs. Connolly starting to cry quietly as Tommy moved beside his mother to comfort her, sitting on her armrest.

"Hold on a minute!" Mr. Connolly shouted, looking at the string of flags in his hand and over to his crying wife, "Queen and country's one thing, but this is _my_ house!" he threw the flags down, making the Professor flinch, being the nearest one to him, at the sight of him curling his hand into a fist, at his shouting, "What the…what the hell am I doing?!" he snapped and glared at the duo, "Now you listen here, you may have fancy qualifications, but what goes on under my roof is my business!"

The Professor shook her head at that, "People are being taken…"

"I am talking!" Mr. Connolly raged, bits of spit flying from his mouth as he shouted at her.

The Professor winced back at the roar in his voice…which had the Doctor on his feet in an instant, grabbing the man by the lapels of his jacket and shoving him back into the wall, "Talk all you want," he muttered to the man, his voice quiet but full of a dark rage itself, "I promise you neither of us will listen," the Professor stood slowly at that, seeing the terror in Mr. Connolly's face, "I will tell you one thing, Mr. Connolly, and YOU will listen. You are staring into a deep, dark PIT of trouble if you don't let us help," his lip nearly curled in a snarl as he tightened his hold on the man who was rapidly paling at being held back by the Doctor, "So, be a good little soldier, and listen to this order…and you tell us what is going on."

The Professor stepped next to him and put a hand on his shoulder, able to see his arms shaking from how tense he was, seeing the glare in his eyes, the promise that the man would NOT like what came next if he didn't start talking, "Doctor," she squeezed his shoulder, "Let him go."

"He shouted," the Doctor shook his head, "He shouted at you."

"_He's not as frightening as my father,_" she murmured to him in Gallifreyan, not about to say that where others could hear and understand it, "_He's not worth it._"

The Doctor gave the man one more glare before he shoved him back and released him, "_If he raises his voice to you, one more time…_" he warned her.

She nodded, "_I shall take him out myself,_" she agreed, because if he could raise his voice to strangers, guests in his home, there was no stopping him from doing the same or worse to his wife and child, they both knew that, "Now," she turned to the others, looking at Tommy who seemed a bit impressed someone had stood up to his father like that, "What happened?"

Before Tommy or Mrs. Connolly could answer though, a thumping sounded from above them.

"She won't stop," Mr. Connolly murmured as it happened again, "She never stops."

"We started hearing stories," Tommy spoke, pulling their attention to him, "All round the place. People who've..._changed_. Families keeping it secret cos they were scared. The police started finding out. We don't know how, no one does. They just...turn up, come to the door and take 'em. Any time of the day or night."

The Doctor and Professor exchanged a look at that before the Professor took a breath and looked at Tommy once more, "Can you show us?"

Tommy turned to his mother, who quickly nodded, and stood, "Follow me," he told them, leading them past his father who stepped back from the Doctor, and up the stairs. He led them down the hall to a door at the end, no light shining from under it, "Gran?" he called, knocking on it quietly before pushing the door open, "It's Tommy," the room was pitch black, "'S alright Gran, I've brought help…"

As the Doctor and Professor followed Tommy into the room they could see a woman standing silhouetted in the window though it was still too dark to make her out fully. Till Tommy turned the lights on and it was revealed that his grandmother, while looking every bit the elderly woman she was, from gray hair to wrinkles on her arms…was missing her face. The skin across it was entirely smoothed over, all her features gone.

"Her face is completely gone…" the Doctor breathed, a note of fascination in his tone. He glanced at the Professor who looked uneasy, "Have you ever seen such a thing?"

She shook her head, "No…" she hesitated, "But I know enough to know it's not a human cause," she added quietly to him, the Doctor nodding in agreement, the humans didn't have the means to do something like this.

"Sorry," he murmured to her, recalling his reassurances that it wasn't alien in nature.

"Let's just…get on with it," she muttered, the sooner they examined the woman the sooner they could identify the alien that did it to her and stop them.

He stepped closer to the old woman, pulling his sonic out to scan her, knowing the Professor would NOT want to touch her and not about to force her to, "Scarcely an electrical impulse left," he informed, "Almost complete neural shutdown, she's ticking over, like her brain has been...wiped clean."

"What're we gonna do, Doctor?" Tommy had tears in his eyes for the plight of his grandmother, "We can't even feed her!"

"Perhaps…" the Professor began, about to offer a suggestion, narrowing down a handful of aliens that could do something like this, when there was a crash below as though someone had shoved their way into the house.

"It's them!" Mrs. Connolly cried as she ran to the door from checking the steps, "They've come for her!"

It didn't escape the Professor's notice that Mr. Connolly seemed pleased by that information, so she quickly turned to Tommy, the only one of the three humans that seemed to be keeping his head about all of this, "Tommy, what was she doing before this happened? Where was she?" she glanced at the door, hearing men rushing up the steps, "Tell me, quickly, think!"

"I can't think!" the boy stuttered, "She doesn't leave the house! She was just…" his answer was interrupted by a large, burly man striding into the room, two officers beside him, heading for the old woman.

The Doctor put himself between them, his hands up, "You don't want to do that," he warned the men, "Believe me, you try and take that woman and…"

Even as the punch was landed across his face by one of the men, he was quite sure his point was about to be proven as his world went black, for the Professor lunged at them, attacking the men in her desire to defend the Doctor. Before the man could even pull his arm back, she had grabbed it and twisted, shoving it up his back, along his spine, and kneed him in the back of his leg, sending him falling to the ground with a thump. One of the men grabbed her from behind and she used the leverage to lift her legs up, kicking out at the other man before her, getting him right in the chest and sending him sprawling back away from the old woman.

The man shifted her, winding just one arm around her and bringing his other up to cover her mouth and nose, trying to knock her out even as she struggled in his arms…and shoved her to the man struggling to his feet once more as she passed out.

"Take them both!" the man ordered, the one on the ground scrambling to throw a blanket over the old woman and carry her out of the house as the two other officers grabbed the Professor and dragged her between them to the stairs.

"Doctor!" Tommy hurried to the unconscious man as his mother ran after the police, his father doing his best to hold the woman back, "Doctor wake up!" he grabbed the man's lapels and shook him, nearly dropping him back on the ground as he heard his mother screaming that they were taking his gran…the thump of the Doctor's head against the wood seemed to do the trick though and the Doctor groaned and woke.

"Professor…" he looked around for her.

"They took her."

That was all that needed to be said before he was on his feet and stumbling towards the stairs, still disoriented from the punch but knowing the Professor was in danger. The men would NOT have been able to take her unless she was unconscious.

"Professor!" he shouted as he nearly fell down the stairs, reaching the base just as he heard the engines rev outside and saw the police car drive off, the Professor and Tommy's gran shoved in the backseat.

"No!" he lunged, about to head for the door, but stumbled as he missed the last step. He looked over at the Connolly parents, hearing Mrs. Connolly crying and spotted something odd through the archway into the sitting room…tendrils of red, electrical beams reaching out from the TV before it was sucked back into it.

He looked at the doorway, the street, and back at the TV, fighting to keep himself thinking rationally, the way he KNEW the Professor would want him to think despite the near-overwhelming urge to go after her. She would want it investigated, she'd want him to find out about the aliens and stop them. The police had her, yes, but they were humans, she was safe enough, she could handle humans…she would be better dealing with the humans and leaving the alien to him.

He swallowed hard, his hand curling into a fist as he shoved his way into the sitting room and to the TV, turning it, ignoring Tommy arguing with his father to go after their grandmother to examine the back of the box. There was a small flicker of the red energy around the label for 'Magpie Electricals' before it disappeared. His jaw clenched at that, knowing that the man they'd met before, Mr. Magpie, had something to do with this.

"How did they find her?" Tommy was asking as the Doctor stood, "Who told 'em?"

"You!" Mr. Connolly snapped, seeing the Doctor turning and stalking towards the hall, "Get the hell out of my house!"

"With pleasure!" the Doctor shouted back at him, stepping through the front door and slamming it behind him. He took a deep breath, trying to focus, trying to think, trying to calm himself down enough to do either. He pulled his sonic out of his pocket and flicked it on, scanning the Connolly's door, scanning their home, till he picked up the energy signal and followed it out onto the streets.

He needed to have a little 'chat' with Mr. Magpie.

_~8~_

The Professor winced as she slowly came around…only to find she was trapped in some sort of fenced in area, dozens of people standing around her, all of them stiff…all of them missing their faces as well. She slowly stood, using the fence as support, and eyed the people. They were hardly moving, just…standing there, clenching and unclenching their fists as though that was the only thing they could do.

She winced when a bright light lit up behind her, nearly blinding her as she turned to see what it was, headlights of a police car, a man standing in the middle of them, obscuring her view.

"Stay where you are!" was the order given.

She just let out a huff and slowly raised her hands to show them she was mostly unarmed and waited for them to approach the cage with the keys.

~8~

The Doctor didn't even knock before he stepped into Magpie's shop, striding right to the man who was sitting at a counter, working on a small TV, "Oh, I…I'm sorry sir," the man tried to smile, "I'm afraid you're too late. I was just about to lock the door."

The Doctor shook his head, "I'm not going anywhere till we have a little chat about your televisions."

"Could you come back tomorrow?" the man offered.

"You'll be closed, of course," the Doctor countered, "For the coronation."

"Yes," Magpie blinked, "Yes, of course. The big day. I'm sure you'll find somewhere to watch it. Please go."

"I already said no," the Doctor eyed him, seeing him glancing at a row of TVs set up along the wall and made his way to it, "Funny, these," he eyed them, "It's hardly profitable to just give sets like these away."

"I have my reasons," Magpie defended.

The Doctor stopped right as one TV flickered on, a black-and-white woman in a typical housewife attire and style appearing, smiling at him. His eyes narrowed, "And I assume SHE is it."

"Hungry!" the woman on the telly groaned, "Hungry!"

"Er, sorry!" Magpie practically leapt up and tried to move in front of the Doctor, blocking him from the television and nudge him back, "It's one of these modern programs," he chuckled, "Now, I really do think you should leave! Right now!"

The Doctor rolled his eyes and reached out, pushing the man to the side, "Let's be clear, do not give me any rubbish about how it's your 'patriotic duty' to give these televisions away. I know you're hiding something, an alien, here," he glanced at the TV, "You wouldn't be trying to force me out if there wasn't something to hide."

"I'm not hiding," Magpie insisted, "I just…I need to close!"

"Do you think I'm a fool, Magpie?" the Doctor shot him a look, "I know that your televisions are involved in the disappearance of the faceless people. That IS why I am here, why SHE'S here too," he turned back to the TV, "Hello."

"What a clever man you are," the woman on the screen grinned at him, causing Magpie to back away, fearful.

"And what exactly are you?" he demanded, "Identify yourself. Now."

"Ooh no need to be rude," the woman pouted, before smiling again, "I'm the Wire. And I'm hungry!"

The Doctor jumped back as red sparks shot out of the TV, reaching for him, latching onto his face as he struggled to step further back, able to feel the energy sucking at him, "Get OFF!" he grunted, struggling to get his hand into his pocket for his sonic, his hand starting to clench into a fist without his control.

"Just think of that audience tomorrow," Magpie murmured beside him mournfully, "All sitting down to watch the coronation. Twenty million people. Things will never be the same again…I'm sorry," he nearly sobbed, "So sorry."

"Not…as sorry…as you will be!" the Doctor threatened, managing to close his fist around his sonic, but unable to pull it out as he felt himself being pulled into the TV through the energy attacking him…

~8~

The Professor sat quite daintily before one of the policemen that had seized her in Tommy's home, she took a small bit of pleasure in the fact that his arm was in a sling, recognizing him as the one she'd managed to twist his arm behind his back. Well served him right for seizing innocent people.

"Start from the beginning," the man demanded as he stood over her at his desk in his office, trying to be intimidating, "Tell me everything you know."

She smiled at that, "There's not enough time in your lifetime and your next 20 generations to do that."

"Ooh arrogant are we?" he narrowed his eyes at her, "You were there today at Florizel Street, and again in the Connolly house where you attacked our officers. You're connected with this. Make no mistake…"

She sighed, "Detective Inspector Bishop…" she began.

But he cut in, suspicious, "How do you know my name?"

"I used my eyes," she told him, before nodding her head a bit towards his neck, "It's written inside your collar," she almost smirked as he stepped back and tried to adjust his collar, "Now, my eyes, I've been told, are sharp, my mind is too. I CAN help you, and it seems like you'll need it," she shook her head, "What exactly ARE you doing to try and help those poor people? To find out what's causing this occurrence?"

"I'm doing everything in my power," the man defended.

"Seizing those people and hiding them away isn't doing anything useful," she countered, before rubbing her face, "Orders from the higher ups?" she guessed, "The coronation's tomorrow, they want the area to look pristine, no 'odd occurrences' allowed, so, since you can't stop them, you hide them."

Bishop frowned at that, "The nation has an imagine to maintain!"

"And if you're more concerned about the nation's image than actually doing your JOB, why are you even standing here?"

"I…" Bishop tried to find a way to defend against that. To say he valued his job more was to say he didn't care about his country, to say he valued the image of his country meant he didn't put stock in his job or his abilities…so instead he sunk into his seat, "With all the crowds expected, we haven't got the man-power. Even if we did...this is...beyond anything we've ever seen. I just don't know anymore," he sighed, "Twenty years on the force...I don't even know where to _start_. You're right, we haven't the faintest clue what's going on."

She nodded slowly, "Then tell me what you DO know," she offered, "I'm the Professor, I'll do my best to help."

The man eyed her a long while, before sighing and pulling a rather thin folder out of his desk drawer, not seeing the harm in taking in a…consultant…for this situation. The coronation was only hours away, literally, any help they could get to have this situation dealt with before then he would take, "This is all we have," he handed it to her, getting up.

The Professor flipped through the few pages the man had in the folder and gave him a look, "THIS is it?"

"And this," the man led her over to a map on a table, small red flags depicting where, she assumed, various people had been abducted, "We started finding them about a month ago. Persons left sans visage. Heads just...blank."

She frowned at the image, pointing to a particular street, "Concentrated here, on Florizel Street," she murmured, letting her finger follow the cluster of flags, "And branching out."

"All over the City," Bishop agreed, "Men, women, kids...grannies..." they glanced up when there was a knock on the office door.

"Found another one, sir," an officer stated, leading in what appeared to be a man in a suit given his legs, though there was a blanket draped over him…

While Bishop merely sighed at the sight, the Professor frowned, getting a MUCH stronger sensation off the person before her.

"Oh, er, good man, Crabtree. Here we are, Professor…" Bishop didn't even get a chance to finish before the Professor was striding to the covered man and yanking the blanket off him to reveal the Doctor, sans face, his faint black stubble on his cheeks but nothing else.

"Oh Doctor…" the Professor stared at him in horror.

"Do you know him?"

"He's my Bonded," she blinked rapidly at the sight, reaching out to touch his face and nearly snapping her hand back at the sensation of nothingness she felt, his entire mind was wiped, he was just…empty…

Someone had taken the Doctor and emptied him of everything that made him him.

"Where…" she swallowed hard, trying very, very hard not to let her voice crack, "Where was he?"

"They found him in the street, apparently," the officer offered, "Over at Master Square, abandoned."

The Professor closed her eyes at that, her hands curling into fists as Bishop frowned, "That's unusual, that's the first one out in the open. Heaven help us if something happens in public tomorrow for the big day, we'll have Torchwood on our back, make no mistake."

The Professor took a deep breath, "Anger is always the shortest distance to a mistake," she muttered to herself.

"I'm sorry?" Bishop looked at her.

"Anger," she repeated, "Is what leads to mistakes," she opened her eyes, looking at the Doctor, "Don't get angry," she muttered again, "Don't get angry, whatever you do don't get angry…"

She repeated it over and over under her breath as she turned and nearly stalked out of the room, Bishop hurrying after her as they burst out onto the street just as dawn lit the sky.

"The big day dawns..." Bishop breathed.

But the Professor didn't even stop, just kept going, walking faster and faster as she headed for the one place she could think that might help her work out what to do.

~8~

The Professor didn't even pause as she reached Tommy's house, slamming her hand on the door to knock, only the reminder that Tommy, a young boy, lived there keeping her from kicking the door down.

"Tommy!" she shouted through the wood, "Out here, now!"

A moment later the door opened to reveal Tommy, the boy quickly stepping out and shutting the door behind him, "Yeah?"

"Tommy," she took a breath, repeating the mantra 'don't get angry' over and over in her head as she spoke, "I need you to tell me what happened to your grandmother when she changed."

Tommy opened his mouth to answer when the door was thrown open, his father all but stampeding outside, "What the blazes do you think you're doing?!"

"I wanna help, dad…" Tommy tried to defend.

"Mr. Connolly…" Bishop spoke, seeing the Professor glaring daggers at the man.

"Shut your face, you!" the man snapped, "Whoever you are. We can handle this ourselves!" he rounded on his son once more, "Listen you, little twerp. You're…"

The groan of pain that came out of the grown man would have startled Tommy and Bishop, had it not been for the fact that it had been created by the Professor jabbing out her hand and half stabbing Mr. Connolly in the throat, cutting the man's speech off before her other hand grabbed a fist into the front of his shirt and shoved him to the side, slamming him into the corner of the doorframe.

"No," she nearly growled, "YOU listen to ME!" she couldn't even catch her breath, "I don't care what you have to say, you do not speak to your son like that, you do not obstruct an investigation, and you certainly do NOT sell out your family!"

"What…" the Professor looked up to see Mrs. Connolly had come to see what the commotion was about.

"You ratted on gran," Tommy realized, staring at his father in horror.

The Professor nodded grimly, "I'm an Academic, I make connections, and you, sir," she spat the word out, "Were far too pleased when the police arrived for your mother-in-law," she shoved him back against the door again when he tried to speak, "No more talking!" she hissed at him, "You go back into your house, you," she looked at the startled Mrs. Connolly, "Deal with your husband, and you, Tommy," she eyed the boy, "You come with me and Detective Inspector Bishop. Now."

And with that she shoved Mr. Connolly back into his house and turned to storm off.

Tommy glanced at his mother, who quickly nodded, before he ran after the rather angry woman with Bishop.

"Don't get angry," the Professor was murmuring to herself, "Shouldn't have gotten angry. Wasted time, can't waste time," she looked at Tommy, taking a deep breath to try and keep her emotions in check, knowing she had cost them valuable time in dealing with Mr. Connolly instead of just asking Tommy to go with them first, "Tommy…what happened the night your gran changed?"

"She was just watching the telly," Tommy told her.

The Professor looked at the block, the people hurrying to get indoors to watch the coronation, her gaze drifting up to the TV aerials, "Magpie!" she nearly bit out, "Where's his shop?!"

"Just up the street," Bishop pointed…and the Professor took off running.

~8~

Detective Inspector Bishop, as a fine, upstanding officer of the law, felt he probably SHOULD have commented on the Professor breaking into Magpie's shop…had he not been so startled to see this small, blonde girl literally kick down the door to gain entry.

Young Tommy Connolly, however, seemed very impressed with the feat.

The Professor though strode right in, "Magpie!" she shouted for the man, "Get out here and face me!"

"Maybe he's out?" Tommy offered when Magpie remained elsewhere.

The Professor let out a huff, moving over to the counter and starting to rummage through the drawers behind it, pulling out an odd little device that reminded her very much of a cross between a miniature television and a portable radio. She placed it on the counter and closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths to try and calm herself, the mantra to not get angry not quite working any longer. And she needed to be calm, she really did, if she was going to focus and think this through.

Something had taken the Doctor's face, his mind, and she couldn't afford to make a mistake and fail to restore him.

She opened her eyes and picked up the device, turning it over in her hands, trying to scan it for what it really was, "Bakelite," she muttered, "Made by human hands. But too advanced to not have alien help."

"That's incredible," Bishop stared at it, "It's like a television, but portable. A portable television!"

The Professor shook her head, "It's not all that's here, it can't be," she stepped away from the counter, the portable TV in hand, and over to the line of TVs resting against the wall, eyeing them before she flicked the portable one on.

The televisions before her flickered on, each screen revealing a different grayscale face, all of people seeming quite scared and shouting for help. The Professor frowned as she eyed them, quickly looking them all over, guessing what they were…the faces that were stolen…and trying to find…

"Doctor," she breathed, seeing him as the very last TV on the bottom. She moved to her knees and reached out, touching his face as he shouted out for her, she could read it in his lips, he was shouting 'Professor! Help! Get me out!'

"Gran?" Tommy seemed to find his grandmother as well, confirming the Professor's suspicions.

"I'll get you out," she promised him, "I'll get them all out."

"What do you think you're doing?" a voice called behind them, one she recognized as Magpie's.

She turned, standing as she did so to face the man, "I think I am exposing your little plan," she narrowed her eyes at him, "And your ally," she added, not seeing one of the screens flicker from static to the Wire behind her, "Oh, sorry, not your ally. Your master. Where is he?"

"I'm right here, darling," a woman's voice spoke, making her turn to see the Wire smiling at her, "Ooh, this one's smart as paint."

"Is she talking to us?" Bishop whispered to the Professor.

"I'm sorry," Magpie winced, "I'm... I'm afraid you've brought this on yourselves. May I introduce you to my new...friend."

"Jolly nice to meet you," the Wire waved.

"Oh my God, it's her, that woman off the telly!" Bishop gasped.

"Hardly," the Professor shook her head, moving to stand right in front of the woman's screen, "She's just using an image."

"What...what are you?" Tommy hesitated to ask.

"I'm the Wire," the woman laughed, "And I will gobble you up, pretty boy. Every last morsel. And when I have feasted, I shall regain the corporeal body, which my fellow-kind denied me…"

Bishop's eyes widened, impressed, as color began to seep into the screen, "Good Lord, color television!"

"Don't act impressed," the Professor shook her head, "She's showing off," she eyed the Wire, "Trying to gain sympathy?" she guessed, "Support? Your own people tried to stop you, why should any of the humans HELP you?"

"They executed me, actually," the Wires tuck up her nose, grinning smugly, "But I escaped, in this form and fled across the stars."

"Only to be trapped in a primate television," she shook her head, "I'm quite unimpressed with you actually," she mocked, making the Wire frown, the color fading back to gray.

"I won't be trapped for much longer," the Wire taunted.

"Is this what got my gran?" Tommy leaned in to whisper to the Professor.

"It seems so," the Professor nodded, "She seems to be a species that feeds off the electrical activity of the brain, but this one?" she scoffed, "This one gorged itself like a great overfed _pig_. Taking people's faces, their essences…all she succeeded in doing was stuffing herself."

"And you let her do it, Magpie?!" Bishop turned to the man, disgusted.

"I had to!" Magpie cried, reaching up to touch his face as though he were in pain, "She allowed me my face! She's promised to release me at the time of manifestation."

"What does that mean?" Tommy shook his head.

"The appointed time," the Wire teased, "My crowning glory."

"The coronation!" Bishop gasped.

"Never would have guessed that, thanks," the Professor muttered to him, before focusing on the Wire, it was…slightly easier to confront this alien than others in the past as she was using a human form. She nodded, considering the obvious plan, "For the first time in history, millions gathered around a television set, a banquet for you, I'm sure," the Wire grinned, "Too bad for you that you're a weakling at the moment," the Wire glared at her, "I know all about being weak, about limitations, and you are not strong enough to do all that from here, so you had him," she jerked a thumb at Magpie, "To make this," and held up the portable TV, "Something that would transform a transmitter into a receiver."

"What a clever thing you are!" the Wire bit out with forced sugar in her voice, "Just like that other one," she started to smirk, seeing that she was getting to the Professor with her words, "But you know…his cleverness didn't help him, and it won't help you!"

The Professor quickly ducked as the red energy shot out of the TV, knowing she couldn't move backwards as Tommy and Bishop were standing right behind her. She quickly spun to the side, only to see that the Wire had managed to catch the two in her beams.

"Hungry!" the woman groaned, "Hungry! The Wire is hungry! Ah! This one is tasty. Oh! I'll have lashings of him! Delicious! Ah!"

The Professor panted before she reached out and grabbed Tommy's hand, tugging him to the side while also placing herself in front of the woman, allowing the energy to get a taste of her…

While she had expected to need to fight the Wire back, now that she knew how the energy system worked, she was NOT expecting the Wire to cry out in horror and retreat from her, "Danger!" she was gasping, "Danger! She's a weapon!"

The Professor collapsed to her knees, her hands flying to her face and head as it screamed in agony at barely escaping the Wire's onslaught.

"The box, Magpie!" the Wire screeched, seeing the woman down for the time, "The box!" Magpie quickly reached out and grabbed it from where it fell just beside the Professor, holding it up to the televisions, "Hold tight..." wincing as a red light shot out from them to the portable device, "Conduct me to my victory, Magpie!"

"No…" the Professor tried to reach out and stop him, but the room was spinning, and she needed to focus, needed to get her bearings and her strength back enough to stand up, bracing herself against the wall of TVs to do it. She panted, closing her eyes, trying to focus, trying to push the pain down. She swallowed hard and turned, nearly stumbling she moved to Tommy's side, the boy on the ground, unconscious…unlike Bishop whose face was gone, "Tommy," she nudged him, "Wake up. Tommy!" she shook him harder, snapping him awake, "Come on," she hauled him to his feet, the boy wincing as he pressed a hand to his head as she had done.

"What happened?" Tommy breathed.

"We need to go," she told him, "Magpie's taken the Wire," she stumbled only slightly as she ran for the door and out onto the street, looking around for the direction Magpie could have gone as his van was missing too.

"We don't even know where to start looking," Tommy panted, "It's too late."

"It's never too late," the Professor muttered, spinning in a slow circle, taking in the surrounding area, wherever it was had to be close to Magpie's shop or the Wire would have gone somewhere else, "Think, think," she huffed, "Transmitter…" her eyes widened as it hit her, causing her to turn to the side, spotting a large building just a short distance away, "Alexandra Palace!" she pointed at it, "The biggest TV transmitter in North London!" she turned and grabbed his hand, pulling him back towards his street, needing to get to the TARDIS.

"What are you going to do?" Tommy called, running after her.

"I'm going to stop her."

~8~

The Professor held a device in her arms as she and Tommy ran down the street towards Alexandra Palace, having managed to complete the creation in the TARDIS to her standards as they ran to stop the Wire and Magpie, they just had to find them first.

"There!" Tommy cried, pointing up at the transmitter, Magpie starting to climb it, the portable TV hooked to him.

The Professor looked around, "This way," she called, leading him towards a control room entrance.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" a guard tried to stop them, "Where do you think…" but the Professor quickly swung out, chopping him in the junction of his neck and shoulder, sending the man crumbling to the ground, unconscious.

To his credit, Tommy said not a word about it as they burst into the control room, the Professor quickly setting and hooking up the device in front of one of the television monitors, "Tommy," she pulled him over, "Keep it switched on. Do NOT let anyone stop you, do you understand?" he nodded, "I'll be back soon."

She turned and ran out the door, hurrying past the still unconscious guard and up a flight of stairs, a stream of magnetic recording tape trailing behind her from a reel slung over her shoulder. She made it to the roof, to the base of the transmitter…and paused.

She hesitated to step forward, looking up at the utter height of the transmitter, she hated heights. She closed her eyes.

"Ok," she breathed deep, "Get angry, don't be scared, be angry…" she tried to think of the Doctor, of what the Wire had done to him, to hold onto the knowledge that he was relying on her, that all those people in the police station that had their faces taken were relying on her to do this…

She swallowed hard and threw herself at the transmitter, forcing herself to climb up, not daring to look down, just repeating 'be angry!' over and over in her head as she tried to catch up to Magpie, the man reaching the main plug at the top just as she reached the halfway point, though she could hear the Wire laughing in triumph from there.

"Oh!" the alien cried, red energy bursting out of the top of the transmitter, "Feast! Feast...ing! The Wire...is feasting!"

"It's too late!" Magpie half sobbed as he saw the Professor getting closer, "It's too late for all of us!"

"I shall consume you...Professor," the Wire hissed, a red energy zipping out at her, but she managed to duck to the side and avoid it, at least her reflexes were still sharp.

"You aren't going to get away with this!" the Professor shouted up at them, continuing her climb.

"Help me Professor!" Magpie reached for his face, weeping, "It burns! It took my face, my soul!"

"You cannot stop the Wire," the Wire cheered, "Soon I shall become manifest."

The Professor just barely managed to duck down and avoid another blast of red energy, "I WILL stop you!"

"No more of this!" Magpie begged the Wire as the Professor reached his feet, "You promised me peace!"

"And peace you shall have," the Wire hissed.

"No!" the Professor cried as a beam of red energy hit the man, blasting him into a thousand pieces, the Wire just laughing maniacally at the sight. She grit her teeth and pushed herself on, reaching the main plug and the portable TV, reaching for it, but was zapped by a shot of red energy, "You're getting weak," the Professor told her, shaking out her hand, but more gauging how powerful the energy was…and deciding it was something she could handle, before shoving her hand at the TV once more, biting her lip to keep from letting out a cry of pain as the energy swirled around her hand, trying to stop her, but she pushed through, plugging the reel around her into the TV.

Almost instantly the red beams that were expanding out of the top of the transmitter started to retract, the Professor watching as the Wire cried out in pain on the TV, her face impassive as the woman twitched and spasmed at the energy being pulled out of the TV and into the reel, travelling back down to the device she'd rigged up.

With one, final scream…the Wire vanished, the television switching off.

The Professor let out a pant of air and rested her head against the transmitter, taking a moment to gather herself.

"Eyes closed," she muttered as she gripped the metal around her tighter than ever, "Don't look down," she ordered herself as she tried to start climbing down the transmitter, "Don't look at all. Can't look…can't look…"

She made it down a single foot before she made the mistake of looking at just how high up she was and froze.

~8~

In Bishop's office, the Doctor, who had remained standing there since Bishop ran off, blinked, his face restored, his hands flying to it before he sighed. He grinned, "That's my girl…" he breathed, knowing the Professor had to have had a hand in restoring him.

He took only a moment to look through Bishop's window, at the warehouse below, to see the other people had been restored, before he was out the door, running back to the TARDIS to find his Bonded.

~8~

The Doctor tried, he really did, to keep the grin off his face as he walked with the Professor down the street, his arm wrapped tightly around her as she half clung to him, her body still trembling from her battle with the Wire and climbing the transmitter. He loved having her in his arms, loved the feel of her clinging to him and leaning on him, there was no better feeling in the world than having his Bonded in his arms, well, except kissing his Bonded, but this was a good second. And, better yet, she had most certainly been the hero of the day, she'd rigged up TV technology to trap the Wire, to suck her out of the transmitter and the portable TV and trap her somewhere else, saving everyone watching the coronation and restoring those that had already been affected, including him.

The second he'd gotten to the TARDIS the box was going mad trying to home in on her other pilot so he'd let the box go…and found her clinging to a TV transmitter and muttering about being stupid and looking down.

He'd gotten the box as close as she could get and reached out to help her let go of the transmitter and let him pull her into the TARDIS. It had taken some doing to get her to release her death grip on the metal but he'd done it in the end. She was still a little shaken up, but recovering. They'd gotten Tommy and walked back with him to his street, the boy not knowing that the blue box was a spaceship just yet.

He glanced over at Tommy, the boy having run back to his grandmother the moment he saw her and smiled, returning his attention to the Professor, "You did well today," he rubbed her arm.

"1953," she muttered, "Shouldn't have aliens, but there just HAD to be aliens."

He nodded sympathetically, pressing a kiss to her hair, "You did brilliantly though."

She gave him a small smile, "Thank you," she took a breath, "The Wire…burn her or tape over her?"

He chuckled, "As much as I would love to destroy that tape," he thought back to the Betamax tape the Professor had recorded the Wire onto, "There's quite a just dessert in her being erased and replaced."

The Professor nodded at that, smiling when Tommy came over seeming to sense they were about to leave. The only reason they were really there was to ensure the rest of the people that had been restored made it back to their families alright, "YOU were brilliant, Tommy," she mimicked the Doctor's words, making him chuckle.

"I had a good teacher," Tommy teased a bit.

"Thank you," the Doctor offered Tommy a hand, giving the boy a firm shake, "For taking care of her for me," he nodded at the Professor.

"She took more care of me," Tommy remarked, waving off the praise, his gaze was pulled away to something over their shoulder, "Good riddance," he muttered.

They looked back to see his father walking away from his mother, a suitcase in hand, his mother's stance clearly indicating SHE had been the one to send him off.

"Hmm," the Doctor considered, "Suppose there isn't room in the new age for a man like him."

"There's not," Tommy agreed, "He deserves it."

"He might," the Professor conceded, "But I'll tell you something Tommy…it's hard for a child to ever stop loving their parent, no matter how much an ass…er, jerk," she tried to amend, though Tommy smiled at the slip, "They may be. My father," she sighed, "Makes yours look a saint, and…there is a time or two where…I DO miss him, rare though they may be. Your father, Tommy, he still has a chance to learn, to be better," she reached out and touched his shoulder, "Maybe HE needs a good teacher to show him how to do that," she gave him a pointed look.

Tommy glanced between them and his father before giving them a small smile and a nod, and turning to job over to his father, taking his bag for him and walking next to the man.

"YOU miss your father?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow at her.

"No," she muttered, "I wish I did though," she admitted, "I wish there was even something small about him that I missed," she nodded at Tommy, "He still loves his father, you can hear it in his voice. As bad as Mr. Connolly was, he wasn't always like that. Not like my dad. HE still has a chance to do better, to be better, for his son."

The Doctor nodded at that, squeezing her closer to him, "How about we head off to the TARDIS, find a nice Dickens book to read in front of the library fire, and rest?"

"Is 'rest' formal code for cuddle?" the Professor teased.

"Whatever means I get to sit with you in my arms," the Doctor smirked right back.

The Professor smiled at that, "I'd like that."

And, with that, the two Time Lords turned to walk back down the street, pausing just before they turned the corner to observe the humans, restored and celebrating the start of a new age.

The Professor's smile turned wistful at that, wondering when the time might come for a new age to begin for her, she was tired of being frightened of other aliens all the time. She shook her head and took a deep breath, offering the Doctor a better smile as they turned to go, she had time to heal, and, till she was stronger, she didn't doubt the Doctor would always be there, either to protect her or give her strength to stand on her own.

A/N: Apologies this wasn't up yesterday :( I kept getting an error message every time I tried to get on another tab from my account page (stats, Doc Manager, Manage stories, etc). But I was able to get on this morning to post my OUAT story, and wanted to get this posted too :)

I was debating whether it should be the Professor or the Doctor that got caught by the Wire, the last few I did were all the women getting caught...now it was the Doctor's turn }:) And I feel like the Professor's always been a little bit better at making things that work than the Doctor so I couldn't see her version of the device shorting out like the Doctor's did lol :) I also couldn't quite see her being as 'patient' as the Doctor was but also trying to be rational and calm...but just getting frustrated, and trying to rein it in, but the humans are SO slow! lol :)

Some notes on reviews...

I'm so sorry about your mom :'( You have my deepest thoughts and prayers for you and your family and her :'( What you described feels exactly like my grandmother, my mother and her siblings were with her, but my brother and sister and cousin, we couldn't bear to be around her when the time came because it just wasn't our grandmother anymore :'( If there's anything I can do to help, please just let me know :'(

I'm glad you're enjoying the AU10 so far :) And I'm very relieved that you find the reasons for making him AU justified and understandable, that was always a concern I had that it wouldn't make sense to change 10 even though a majority of 9 and his 'lessons learned' and views of things were changed in having an alien around instead of a human :) So thank you! I don't think it's bad at all to want Mickey around :) Rose won't be travelling for quite a while, but we will see her again before the story's over ;) For now it'll just be the Doctor and Professor, she'll have a lot more trouble recovering from the trauma of the Krillitanes than she did in the original series so I think the Doctor will want to keep it just him and the Professor for a while ;) I'm glad you find the changes and characters believable, I try very hard to keep things as realistic as possible despite some rather unrealistic things in DW lol :) I think the Doctor and Professor will likely wait to have children for a while, they'll very much be the center of each other's universes for a time, which might complicate taking on other companions that aren't used to that dynamic in the future lol ;) ;)


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